
































































































REDUCTION OF COMMISSIONED PERSONNEL 


HEARINGS 

U S C ^ -f before the 

'\COMMITTEf/ON MILITAKY AFFAIRS 
UNITED STATES SENATE 

SIXTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 


S. 3113 

A BILL TO REDUCE THE NUMBER OF OFFICERS OF THE 
REGULAR ARMAN AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES 


I 


Printed for the use of the Committee on Military Affairs 




94801 


WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT ITiINTING OFFICE 
1922 





COMMITTEE ON MILITARY AFFAIRS. 


United States Senate, 


JAMES W. WADSWORTH, Jr., New York, Chairman. 


FRANCIS E. WARREN, Wyoming. 
HOWARD SUTHERLAND, West Virginia. 
HARRY S. NEW, Indiana. 

IRVINE L. LENROOT, Wisconsin. 
SELDEN P. SPENCER, Missouri. 
A'kTHUR CAPPER, Kansas. 

RALPH H. CAMERON, Arizona. 

HOLM O. BURSUM, New Mexico. 
GEORGE W. PEPPER, Pennsylvania. 


GILBERT M. HITCHCOCK, Nebraska. 
DUNCAN U. FLETCHER, Florida. 
HENRY L. MYERS, Montana. 

MORRIS SHEPPARD, Texas. 
KENNETH D. McKELLAR, Tennessee, 
JOSEPH T. ROBINSON, Arkansas. 


R. E. Devendorf, Clerk. 

W. A. Duvall, Assistant Clerk. 


n 


LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

% 3 1925 


, pocUMtNTft 







Sx^ p ^ ^ 

liEDrCTIOX OF CO:\[.MISSIOXEI) PEFvSOXXEL. 


FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1922. 


Exited States Senate. 
('o;m:mittee ox ^rii.iTAUY Affatks, 

Wash1). C. 

Tlie coimnittee mot i)rirsu;iiit to call at 2 o’clock p. m. in tlie committee room, 
Ca])itol, Senator .T. W. WadswoiTii, Jr. (ehaiiman), i)resi<linjr. 

Tile Chaiiemax. (tentlemeii. there is before the committee Senate hill .S113, 
introduced by me, hnt prei>ared in the War I)e]>artment imder the direction 
of the Secretary of War, entitled, “ A hill to reduce the nnmher of otHcers of 
the Uettnlar Army, and for other i)nr[)oses,” which is here printed in full as 
follows: , 


Be it enacted J)n the Senate and lloufie of Renreftentative.^ of the United 
States of America in Con(jress assemided, That hereafter there shall be olticers 
of the Re.unlar Army as now authorized by law exceid that, until it shall he 
determined by Con,ij:i’ess that conditions Justify maintenance of the nnmhers 
now proA'ided by the act of .Tune 4. 1020, there shall he four hundred and 
ninety-four colonels, tive hundred and tifty-tive lieutenant colonels, one thou¬ 
sand eiiLtht hundri'd and lifty majors, three tho\isand seven hundred captains, 
tive thousand seven hundred and thirt.A'-live lieutenants, includinti first and 
second lieutenants and of whom not to exceed three thousand five hundred 
and fifteen may he first lieutenants, one thousand and fifty-three officers of the 
INfedical (’orps, one hundred and seventy-seven officers of the Dental Corps, 
one hundred and forty-four officers of the Veterinary Corps, ('•i'jhty-one officers 
of the ]\red.ical AdministratiA'e Corj)s, and one hundred and thirty-six cha])- 
lains: I'rorided, That, until .July 1, 1923, the total number of officers shall not 
exceed thirteen thousand. Hereafter no oflicer, whose name is carried on 
the ])romotion Fst, shall he promoted to the tirade of first li(nitenant until he 
shall have served at least three years in the f?rade of second lieutenant. The 
number of oflicers henun prescribed for any grade or branch shall not he ex- 
(^•eeded except as authorized by this act. Hereafter the number of oflicers 
of the ]Medi(*al Corps, Dental Cori)s, ^Medical Administrative Corps, and chap¬ 
lains shall he as prescribed hei-e’n. notwithstanding any changes that may 
he made in the authorized eiilisfeid' dr- cdmmissiohed strength of the Ilegular 


Army. -. 

Sec. 2. That for five months after the date of api)roval of this Act there shall 
he no i)romotions of officers of the, Uegular Army, to any grade below that of 
brigadier general, and thereafter there shajl he no promotions to any grade that 
would cause the number of oflicei’s authorized for such .grade by section 1 of 
this Act to he exceeded. Vacancies existing in any grade below hri.gadier general 
on the date of a])proval of this A<-t, and hot actually filled by the accei)t!ince of 
a tendered appointment, shall not he filled : Provided, That nothing in this Act 
shall prevent promotions in the :Medical Department and of chaplains as now 

l>rovided by law. , ^ * .l i 

Se(' 3. That within five months of the date of {)pi)roval of this Act the number 
of officers shall he reduced to not to exceed the numhers p.rescrihed in section 1 
of this Act, and one hundred and ninety-four additional majors, three hundred 
and ninety-five additional captains, thirt.v-two adclitional <)fficers of the Dental 
Corns fortv additional oHicers of the Medical Administrative Corps, and twenty- 
two additional chaplains: ]>rovided, That the number of first lieutenants may 
he reduced to such number as the IT-esident may deem advisable: Jioiided 
farther That additional oflicers within the numhers herein prescribed are author¬ 
ized only during suck time as may he necessary, by retirement, discharge, and 

1 



2 


REDUC^TION OF COMMISSIONED PERSONNEL. 


otlun- means, to a))Soi-l) sucli additional officers and to reduce said grades and 
bi-anches to tlie iiiiinbers prescribed in section 1 of this Act. 

Skc. 4. fliat tile Si^cretary of War sliall convene a board of five general ofiicer.s 
who, under regulations prescribed by liini, sliall select siicli nninber of otiicers, 
hereinafter designated as snperniiinerary officers, as may lie necessary, in addi¬ 
tion to officers removed from tlie active list by other means, to reduce'to not to 
exceed the numbers to which reduction is to be made witliin five montlis of the 
date of the approval of this Act as prescribed in the preceding section : Prordded, 
That for the Medical Corps, the Dental Corps, the Veterinary Corjis, and the 
chaplains the number in each branch in each grade above captain shall be re¬ 
duced not less than the same per centum that the whole number of officers of 
such branch is required to be reduced within five months of the date of approval 
of this Act, 

Sec. 5. That, within five months of the date of approval of this Act, the Presi¬ 
dent may, in his discretion and upon application from the officer concerned, 
place officers upon the unlimited retired list or discharge officers under the same 
conditions as to length of service and pay as prescribed in the following section 
of this Act for supernumerary officers: Provided, That no officer may be’ so 
retired or discharged whose retirement or discharge would reduce the number 
in any grade or branch below the number to which reduction is to be made within 
five months, as prescribed in section 3 of this Act: Provided further, That here¬ 
after the President may, in his discretion, place upon the retired list any officer 
who, under existing law, may be retired on his own application. 

Sec. 6. That supernumerary oflicers of more tlusn ten yearV commissioned 
service shall, within five months of the date of approval of this act or as soon 
thereaftcu* as practicable, be placed upon the unlimited retired list with pay 
at the rate of 3 per centum of their active pay multii)lied by the number of 
complete years of commissioned service, not exceeding 75 per centum. Super¬ 
numerary officers of not more than ten years’ commissioned service shall, 
within five months of the date of approval of this Act or as soon thereafter as 
practicable, be honorably discharged with one year’s pay unless they shall 
have more than seven and one-half years’ commissioned service, in which case 
they shall be discharged with two years’ pay: Provided, That supernumerary 
officers of more than ten years’ commissioned service, who so elect, may be 
discharged with two years’ pay in lieu of retirement and retired pay as herein 


provided. 

In computing service under this section only service as a commissioned offi¬ 
cer in the active service of the United States shall be counted: Provided, That 
any officer whose name is carried on the promotion list, who was originally 
appointed in a grade above second lieutenant, shall be credited with a lengtli 
of service that shall be the same as that of the officer next above him on the 
promotion list who was originally appointed in the grade of second lieutenanr 
prior to July 1, 1920; and any officer of the Medical Corps, Dental Corps, 
Veterinary Corps, or any chaplain, originally appointed in a grade above the 
lowest authorized by the branch in which commissioned, shall be credited with 
a length of service that shall be the same as that of the officer of said branch 
next senior in j-ank who was originally appointed in such authorized lowest 
grade; and captains and first lieutenants of the Medical Administrative Corps 
shall be credited with ten and five years’ commissioned service, respectivelv 
to which shall be added their actual service as commissioned offiem-s sinoe Tniv 
1, 1920; and any colonel, except of the Medical Department, whose N not 

home on the promotion list, and who was originally a])pointed iir a grade above 
second lieutenant, shall be credited with the same service as the colonel ox 
elusive of colonels of the .Medicid I>epartment, next senior in rank v/ho ™ 
origmaly appointed in the grade of second lieutenant: Provided further ThVt 
any officer whose length of commissioned service is actuallv <n-e-ifer i h of 
with which he would be credited under the toregoluft provis.rshall bfcredite.l 
^Mth such actual length of commissioned service. Service shall im i ^ 

prescribed in this section for the purposes of this act onlv edited as 

Sec. 7. That hereafter there shall be no appointments ‘ in the IMerimm tv 
partment that will cau.se the number of officers of any branch thereof fo ex’ 
ceed the number prescribed for such branch in section 1 of fhi« . ^ I 

will caiLse the total number of officers of the MeS Demrt 
one thousand four hundred and fifty-five, exclusive of -enerM ^ 

missioned therein, and there shall be no appointments of chapW ns 
cause the number of chaplains prescribed in .section 1 of this act to be excrvntai. 


REDUCTION OF COMiAIISSIOXED PERSONNEL. 


8 


Sec. S. That whenever the total nnniher of otheers of the Uef^iihir Army sliall 
he less than the maximum nnmher authorized hy this act, the President may, 
in his discretion, order reserve otheers to active duty witli their const'nt 
within tlie limits of funds available appropriated for pay of otheers of the Army, 
and within the vac.\ncies existing- in the Reitular Army in the nunil)(*rs an- 
thorized hy section 1 of this act. 

Sec. 9. That the oflict'rs provided hy section 1 of this act sliall he assijiiied 
to the se^■eral hranches of the Army so that the ninnlK‘r assi.mied to each 
hranch, exclusive of the Medical Department and chaplains, shall he 82.4 per 
centum of the nninher prescribed for such hranch hy the act of June 4, 1920. 
hut the I’r(‘sident may incnaise or diminish the nnmher of ollicers assijjjned to 
any hranch hy not more than a total of 30 per centum. 

Sec. 10. That all laws and parts of laws, in so far as they are inconsistent 
with this act, are hereby repealed. 

The CiiATKMAx. The legislation is of snch }j:rt‘at importance that it was 
ohvions that the committee would want all the information which could he 
brought before it. and to he hiformed as to the opinion of the Secretary of 
AVar coneerning the general situation in the Army, especially in the commLs- 
sioneil personnel. TlunaTore. this hearing was arranged, and the Secretary of 
AA ar is here, and I know that yon wJl all he very glad to hear him discuss 
this measure and anythhig i-elating to it. 

STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN W. WEEKS, SECRETARY OF WAR. 

Secretary AA'eeks. Mr. Uhairman, the purposes of the hill are not as much 
to reduce the nnmher of officers in the Army as to make a redistribution 
of them. I hav(‘ construed the law as recpiiring, when vacancies occur, promo¬ 
tions. Some (inestion has been ra’sed a])out the correctness of that construction, 
hut, if it were not logical, the Secretary of AA’ar would be able to absolutely 
control the nnmher of commissioned officers in grades in the Army, which I 
do not think he should do. I think the law means promoting when there are 
vacancies. That has resulted in tilling the lEgher grades in the Army and 
leaving the second l eutenant gi’ade i)ractically without any officers. Fourteen 
thousand officers were appropriated for this year and there are now almost 
exactly UkdOO officers in the Army. I could leave tilled the .second lieutenant’s 
gi*ade up to the thousand oflicers, hnt the two examinations that we had last 
year for vacancies in the second lieutenant’s grade did not produce a great 
nnmher; I think between four and five hundred. They were very stringent 
examinations, made purposely so. and no modilicat'on was made in any case. 
AA'e felt that if we were going to take, from civil life, men into the Army, 
we ought to have men of the very highest grade and of the very highest 
qualities; and that standard was maintained. 

Then, wo have a very large class from AVest Point gradnafng in June next, 
and I rather felt that those first-class men were entitled to the next place in 
the .service. Personally, I want to say that unless we do get, on the whole, 
hett(M- ollicc'rs from AA’est Point than we get from any other source' it is idle to 
maintain the Military Academy. AA'e do not, under present conditions, get 
from AA’est Point many more than about one-third of the total nnmher required 
to till the vacancies which occur normally during the year. AA'hen I say 
“normally.” T nu'an at this time, when probably there are more resignations 
and retirements than then' would be if we had not recently been through a 
great war. 

Now. having the distribution of the ollicers as it is now. we have too many 
colonel!^, too many lieutenant colonels, too many majors, and, instead of having 
oflicers in those grades to the same extent that we have, we should have men 
in the second lieutenant’s grade. That is particularly desirable from the 
standpoint of the uses to which officers are being put. So many officers under 
pi’esent condition.s are serving with volunteers, with tin' National (tuard. and 
are train’ng young men at camps, with tin' U. (). T. U. ami in other cairic.ties 
that the younger <»ffic(‘rs a.i-e cpiite as well, if not better, qualified for this service. 
They are especially well qualified in the training camps, which activity we 
carried on last summer, and which we are going to carry on to a very much 
greater extent this year, hoping to ])i-ovide for the train’ng of about 50,000 men. 
The offic('rs used must be es])ecially qualified for that work. 

If any of you had the opportunity to observe the results that were obtained 
in the short* time that we had these young men at the camps last summer. 


4 


REDUC’TION OF COMMISSIONED PERSONNEL. 


entii-oly under the direetion of rejiiilar ollieers, I think yon would he amazed 
at the ehanj^e in their condition in the short time wliich tliey served. It was 
an eye oi)ener to me, and T thoujtht I nnderstood these conditions very well. 

Of course, what I am sayiniL? is not all dependent on the number of men that 
Conj^ress may see tit to jtive the department, althoujth I think it will not he out 
of i)lace for me to say, ]Mr. Chairman, that I think the Army has not more 
men than it should have for the i)ui‘pose for which the Army should he used; 
hut whether the number of men were I2r),(X)(), 140,000, or TL00,000, it doesn't 
make any particadar difference in the numher of officers which I think are 
recpiired. The nunil)er servinit with troops under the conditions of distribution 
of troops which we have imposed on us would necessarily he almost as great 
as if the Army were r)0,(MK) or 75,000 larger. It would simply mean that ranks 
would he more nearly fnll, and that there would he a few more trooi)s at each 
of the 250 posts in the United States and the 40 posts outside the United States 
than now, if the Ai’iny were larger. So that the numher serving with the troops 
does not vary greatly. More than one-half of the officers of the Army are 
serving in other capacities all of which are useful and necessary. It is only 
desirable from the standpoint of the Army to have these men of suitable rank 
and suitable (piality. 

Now, the proposition presented in this hill does not mean that the officers who 
are being retired are incompetent. It means that they are less competent than 
some others. We are all quite familiar with the fact that men in all walks 
of life are subject to change when they get to be 45 or 50 or GO years of age. 
S(tme men go on with the procession. They study and learn all the time. 
They keep up with what is do’ng. Other men have not the incentive or the 
qualities to (lo that. They lag behind. I think I am not out of reason in say¬ 
ing that there are many of the older officers in the lieutenant colonel and 
colonel lists who have been good ollieers under the old standards which i)re- 
vailed in the Army. Rased on those standards they are good officers now, but 
they are not altogether modern in their accomplishments, and the Army could 
verv well dispense with their active services. That is the real purpose of this 
bill. 

We have a law now putting men in class R, which does, in a proper and 
logical way, get rid of incompetents—not of course without protest. It enables 
the Army to elim’nate tho.se who are not up to even a mediocre standard. 

This law would not mean that kind of action, but it would mean the selecting 
of those who are least fitted for active duty to go on the retired list under 
the provisions of the bill. It is not a radically different policy from one which 
has been established by Congress for the selection of officers. As you know, we 
l)romote by seniority now up to the grade of colonel and then a board of general 
officers selects officers for an eligible list and from that list promotions are 
made to the grade of brigadier general; an excellent law. in my oi)inion. The 
number selected by the eligible board is suffie’ent to give latitude in selection 
by the appointing power. The method gets the opinion and judgment of the 
leading officers of the Army on their subordinates, and enables the appointing 
power to have the benefit of that oi)inion. 

I do not thiidv it is surprising, hnt it is rather gratifying that the officers 
selected by each of the three different boards which have acted under that in-ovi- 
sion of the law since the act of 1920 have been almost universally—not quite 
so, but almost universally—the same men as selected by the other two boards. 
So that there are now on the eligible list many officers who have been selected 
by all three boards as eligible for promotion, which seems to demonstrate that 
the senior officers of the Army are very generally agreed on the men who are 
best fitted for promotion to the grade of brigadier general. They can do equally 
well in selecting those least suitable for retention in active service. 

Let me point out. Mr. Chairman, the general characteristics and pur])oses of 
this bill. We want less officers of the higher grades, and we want more second 
lieutenants. In consonance with the general imlicy of economy which has 
obtained in the War Department from one end to the other during the past 
year, I have n'ot appointed a thousand officers Avhich I might have done. They 
would have been useful for the purposes which I have hrietly outlined, but it 
seemed to me that the time had come when that i-ather necessary expenditure 
might be avoided, so that we have saved the pay of a thousand men who could 
have been provided for under the law and under the ai)proi)riation. 

The Chairman. Now, just to review for a moment the conditions which the 
Army faces, as 1 understand it: It is well to remember, is it not. that the basic 
law, the act of .Tune 4, 1920, provides for and authorizes the appointment and 
maintenance of approximately 17,000 officers? 


REDUCTION OF COMMISSIONED PERSONNEL. 


0 


Secretary Weeks. That is correct 


to 


11'-^ <»nf;ress. in tlie Army api)r<M>riatioii act ; 
tnis year. api)ropriate(l (nily enoii<;h money to jtav ]4.(KH) otficers*'' 
Secretary M^eeks. Yes. sir. That is rii;ht. 


ijiplicahle 


"Hie Chaium.\n. Bnt the promotion still op(‘rate(l? 

Secretary Weeks. Tlie promotion law still operated; yes. sir. 

1 he ( HAiuMAN. The promotion law read that vacancies occiirriip? in anv jrrade 
helow that of hrifjadier jreneral shall he tilU>d hy lu-onadion of the otlicer next 
on the pi emotion list. As I understand it, it has hei'n inemnhent niion 
<lei>aitnu'iit D) (*ontinne to i)romote oflicers as those vacancies occurred? 


the 


Secretary Weeks. That is the construction we placed (»n the law. 
The ChaIuman. tVith the result that the ^rade of second lientenanl 


wiui iifiiifiiiiiit has heen 
constantly wnptied to till vacancies in tirst lieutenant, and a jrcod many va¬ 
cancies in tirst lieutenant are made t(> till vacancies in cai)tain, and the jjrades 
above that are constantly kept tilled? 

St‘cretary Weeks. Yes; that is <‘ori‘ect. 

The ('haikmax. W’ilh the result that the whole distribution is out of balance? 

Si^-retary W'eeks. That is it. exactly. 

The Uhaikmax. I assume also that you. in a measure, have reached the be¬ 
lief that the Conjjjress' will net in the immediate future, at least, provide for 
more than 14,000 officers? 

Secretary W^eeks. The deiiartment does not ask that it shall. 

The Uhatrmax. In other words, instead of 17,000 officers we have reached the 
point where we are pretty nearly a^ree<l that they shall not exceed 14.0f)0? 

Secretary \Veeks. At this time? 

The CHAiiatAN. At this time. 

Secretary W'eeks. Yes. 

The Chaiiuiax. Thereby compelliiii; this redistribution, or at least makiiiir it 
seem wise? 


Secretary Weeks. Let me add a word there about the number of officers. Mr. 
riiairman. If we carrie<l to its lojrical conclusion the orfranization of the 
Army as the law of 1920 provides, we are jroin;^ to have a vast amount of 
duty to he performed by officers in connection with the reserves and the 
National (luard. The regular officer is the means throu.uh which that duty 
will he performed. That is the basis of the Arm.v in time of war. You would 
md tind any competent military opinion, in my .iudjiinent, even assumimx that 
the number of men in the Army were to he somewhat I’educed, who would 
be in favor of a reduction in the officers of the Army from substantially the 
present number. You may have noted a letter which (Jen. Pershiiii; put in 
the recoi-d in a hearing; before the House Military Affairs Lommittee, written 
h.v Marshal Foch on that .subject, which illustrates the i)ositi<m of competent 
military opinion. 

Of course, none of us know what is froin^ to happen in the future, hut we 
do know what the law now requires. We know it means the traininf;^ of a 
jjreat many untrained men, and the best means of training' them is throuffii 
the officers of the Kejrular Army and under their direction. 

Senator Fletcher, Mr. Secretary, suppose if this hill slnaild he re|>orted 
and when it comes on the tioor somebody should move to strike out “18”’ in 
line 8, pajje 2, and insert “ 12.*’ so that the total number of otlicers shall not 
exceed 12,(KK), would the distribution of them, which you have specified above 
that, he chan^ied pro rata or would there have to he a new arran.uement in the 
different tirades? Supitose the number of officers was made 12,000 instead of 
13,000, the question in my mind is whether the distribution set out precedinc; 
that i)rovision on i)a£re 2 would have to he rearranjred or whether there would 
he simply a pro rata reduction in each £rrade. For instftnee. you have said. 
“There shall he 494 colonels, o.'m lieutenant colonels. l.SoO nmjoi's. 8.700 cait- 
tains,” and so on down. Yo\i have specified that now, so that it takes care of 
the 13,000. 

Secretary Weeks. I think if that number were reduced it would mean a re- 
arranjtement of the i)ercentaKes of tirades in onU'r to maintain the relative 
number that we think should obtain. 

Senator Fletcher. You could not >imi»ly reduce pro rata each of tho.se .irrades? 

Senator McKellar. You would have to reaiT-anj^e the whole list of otlicers? 

Secretary Weeks. T think you would have to rearrauire the proportion in 
each jjrade. AVe do not know until we come to make an examinafon. 1 take it. 
just exactly from what j^rades we would itrefer to take those otlicers. Natu¬ 
rally, from the higher grades in most ca.se.s—colonels, lieutenant <*olonels, and 


6 


REDUCTION OF COMMISSIONED PERSONNEL. 


majors. lUit it might be possil)le that we wouhl find more deficient officers in 
the lieutenant-colonel grade than in the grade of colonel. M hen I sa> deli- 
cient ” I mean relatively not np to the standard. 

Senator Fletcher. In section 2 yon say. ‘'That for five months attei^ tho 
date of aiiproval of tins act there shall he no promotions of officers of the Legii- 
lar Army to any grade below that of hr'gadier general.” M hy not have that 
apply to the brigadier generals? 

Secretary Wpieks, Well, it is not the purpose of this bill to reduce the number 
of general officers. AVe have not had any surplus in general officers for the 
purposes for which they are used. It might be possible to make some reduction, 
perhaps, Without greatly impairing the service, but it had not been the inten¬ 
tion of the department to do so. 

Senator Fletcher. This applies to promotion, “ For five months after the ap¬ 
proval of this act there shall be no promotion of officers to any grade below 
that of brigadier general.” The question in my mind was why not stop the 
promotions entirely for five months? 

Secretary Weeks. P''or the reason that it is not the intention of the bill to 
reduce the number of brigadier generals. To continue promotions to brigadier 
general will help to reduce the number of colonels. 

Senator Fletcher. If you stopped the promotion, that would not necessarily 
reduce the number, would it? It would simply hold it as it is. 

Senator New. If you promote to colonels and then do not promote from lieu¬ 
tenant colonels to colonels, you are at least reducing the number of colonels. 

Secretary Weeks. You are reducing the number of colonels, of course. 

The Chairman. By resignations, retirements, and promotions? 

Senator New. Yes; by resignations, retirements, and promotions. 

Secretary Weeks. I do not want to be in the position. Senator, of be’ng the 
arbiter as to whether promotions .shall be made to fill vacancies, even if I were 
justified in doing it under the law. You know what the pressure would be at 
once to promote to fill vacancies if any such discretion wei'e left to the de¬ 
partment. 

Senator Robinson. What w 11 be the probable effect of this bill if it is 
enacted upon the relative dignity and importance of raidv in the Army, under 
the proposed law. as compared with the j)re.sent law? Will this bill increase 
the dignity and importance of rank or dinnnish it? 

Seci'etary Weeks. I do not think it would make any material difference. 

Senator Robinson. It will diminish the number of officers of certain high 
grades? 

Secretary Wi:eks. Yes. 

Senator Robinson. Wouldn’t that give adde<l significance to those that are 
continued under the law? 

Secretary Weeks. It would be impossible to say that it would not give soine 
added significance. If the number retired were very material in proportion 
to the total number, of course, it would. 

The Chairman. The bill does not, of cour.se, state the number of officers in 
the gi-ades at present. 

Senator Robinson. But the Secretary has .stated that it contemplates the 
reduct'on of certain high-grade officers, ami the thought occurred to some of 
us that i)erhaps it would have that effect and perhaps it might be a whole¬ 
some effect. 

The Chairman. I was about to .say in connection with that, as a matter of 
fa('t, the bill would result in the retirement of 10.3 colonels out of a total 
of 397. 

Senator BuRsi'ir. Are there 397 colonels now? 

The (’Hairman, d'^tiere are 397 colonels in the Army to-day or that is the 
authorized number. I think there are actually within four or five of that 
number. 

Senator Bi'rsum. How many lieutenant colonels? 

The Chairman. There arp (574. 

Senator Robinson. Do you mean the elimination of that many? 

The (’HAiRMAN. It contemplates the retirement of 113 lieutenant colonels. 

Senator I'.rRsrM. The difference between 333 and (>74. The new bill calls 
for 333 lieutenant colonels? 

The (’HAIRMAN. Yes. 

Senator Bursum. And 494 colonels? 

The (Chairman.. Yes. 


RP:DU(’TI()X of commissioxed persoxxel. 


7 


Senator Kohinson. It eoiiteniphites tlie retirement of thos(‘ wlio are les^i 
eflicieiit? 

Secretary Weeks, Tliat is the purpose of tlie bill. 

Senator liuHSK^t. Jlow many majoi’s are there in the service now? 

Secretary Weeks. I haven’t that in mind now—2,222 accordinj^ to the Ai’iny 
Kejiister, 

Senator lU'usT'^r, And cai^tains? Are some of those to he ret red? 

Secretary Weeks. There are d.dol now. 

Tlu‘ Chairman. How many otlicers altogether does this hill conlemiilate for 
retirement? 

Secretar.v Weeks. It contemplates the elim’nation of 922. 

Senator IvOhinson. Does the hill carry an arranti'miient or method hy which 
the retirements are to he effected? I mean tin' selections for retirements, how 
they are to he effected? 

Secretary Weeks, Yes. A hoard of lieneral officers is to make selections for 
retirement and the hill j^rovides for the pay of those num on the retired list. 

Senator Kohinson. Is it antic'pated that serious or .ureat difficulty will he 
encountered in carrying into execution that provision of the law? I mean the 
selection for retirement of officers? 

Secndary Weeks. I have known of no such action being entirely easy or 
agreeable to everyone. 

Senator Kohinson. Kut the thought had occurred to me, and perhaps some 
others, that it would prevent many very great difficulties when you come to 
put it into practical operation. 

Secretary Weeks, They have simply got to sit down and take the records of 
those ollii'ers, take all the evidence that can he obtained relating to them, and 
sift that evidence and then make their selections based on the result of that. 
When I went into the deiiartment last year there were a conslderahle numher 
of brigadier generals to he promoted. I not only took the records of the officers 
themselves and i-ead them, hut I consulted very many general officers who were 
not on the hoard that had made the recommendation for the eligible list, ami 
tried to take the united .iudgment of records and value hy those officers’ as.so- 
ciates and come to a .iudicial conclusion as to the best fitted men for the pro¬ 
motion. If this elimination is properly done, it will he done that way. 

Senator Kohinson. I sipipose under any system that might he suggested that 
same ditficiilty would inhere. There would he complaints of discriminations 
involved ? 

Secretary Weeks. That is involved in any such sclieme. 

Senator Kohinson. I su])pose that many applications to Congress for relief 
might result? 

Secretary Weeks, T am cmilident that there will he some. 

Senator Ki'Rsi’m. There are now four grades, and in those four grades I.ff-IT) 
men; that is. from captain to colonel? 

Secretary Weeks. Yes. 

Senator Fletcher. Will the idea he to make a full report covering the whole 
situation at one time, or will you make different reports? I presume you will 
try to make one report? 

Secretary Weeks. Oh, I think it can he done in five months, and make a com¬ 
plete report. There is a provision in this hill that you may not have noticed, 
about serving in the lower grades a definite time before promotion. There has 
been some criticism that officers have been promoted before they had had an 
opjiortunit.v to serve a sufficient time in the lower grades. I think there is some 
basis for that, and this jirovides that before promotion a second lieutenant, for 
instance, shall serve three years in his grade. 

Senator Kohinson. What length of time would probably he required to work 
out the list of officers to he retii'ed? 

Secretary Weeks. I think it can he done in five months. 

Senator Kohinson. Within five months? 

Secretary Weeks. Five months from the passage of the hill. 

The Chairman. That is a provision of the hill itself, that it shall he done 
within that time. 

Senator Kohinson. Is there any provision in the hill for appeal from the deci¬ 
sion of the hoard? I have not studied the terms of the hill, I mean the hoard 
appointed to determ'ne the question of retirement? 

Secretary Weeks. The report of the hoai-d is subject to the ajiproval of the 
Secretary of War. 


8 


REDUCTION OF COMMISSIONED PERSONNEL. 


Senator Koiunson. So that that would constitute a review ot tin* action ol 
the hoard, in case the Secretary saw tit to jtive such consideration.'' 

Si'cretary Weeks. Yes. The Secretary would very naturally ^ive a itreat deal 
of time and attention to iiuLvidual cases, and to every case, to he sure from his 
standpoint that no injustice luul been done. 

Senator FLpyrcHEu. It rather looks to me like that lan^ua^^e iu section 3 
“ AVithin five months of the date of the approval of this act ” oufiht to read 
“ after the date.” 

Secretary AAT:eks. I have no objection to that chanjie. 

Senator Bunsu^sr. Now, under th's hill it is proposed to allow 404 colonels. 
You now have o97. In the process of elimination under this hill would you he 
limited to the excess of colonels in that elimination, or would you eliminate 
moi'e than the excess and promote from the lower ji^'ade? 

Secretary AA'eeks. AA'e would, naturally, el'minate only the required number. 

The Chairm.an. Might I call the Senator's attention to section 2. ” that for 
five months after the date of approval this act there shall he no proimdion of 
otlicers of the Regular Army to any grade below that of brigadier general ” ; 
so that, while this selection was going on no promotions would take place at all. 

Senator Buksum. I had not analyzed the hill, and I d (1 not know as to that. 

The (’haikman. So that the whole Army, as I understand, stands still while 
this job is being done. 

Secretary AVeeks. That is it exactly. 

The (Tiaikmax. And then promotion is resumed in the normal way. 

Secretary AAT.eks. Yes; in the normal way. 

Senator PT.etciiek. Excei>t as to l)rigadTr generals. 

Secretary AAToeks. Except as to brigadier generals and major generals. 

The Uhairman. It has been suggested on some occasions that one way to 
reduce the number of otlicers in the upper grades is t<> stop all promotions until 
natural wastage reduces them down to the figures, we will say. suggested in this 
bill. AATiat comment have you to make on that, as an alternativeV 

Secretai-y AA'eeks. I am opposed to that. I th'nk it is a very illogical and un¬ 
wise method to proceed to make reductions which seem to he necessary. That 
retains in the service, in the natural course, many officers who should l)e elimi¬ 
nated if the reduction is to he made. It makes no discrimination between the 
good and indifferent and comparatively ])oor. 

Senator Myers. It would take a generation to accomplish it, would it not, Mr. 
Secretary? 

Secretary AA'eeks. AA’ell, I would not say a generation, hut it takes a con¬ 
siderable time. It would stop all promotions, of course, and that affects the 
morale of the .service in a way which is harmful. AA> had exactly that condi¬ 
tion in the Navy after the Civil AATir, when promotion was stopped for a long 
time. The result was that we had lieutenants who were the equivalent of the 
grade of captain in the Army who were serving as lieutenants when they had 
nearly reached the age of 50. That is very had for the service. A man serving 
in a minor position until he I’eaches the age when he might well aspire to he in 
general command of something loses to a large extent his initiative and his 
capacity of command. It would he an unwise ])rovision of the law, in my 
opinion. 

Senator New. Yes. It would hold hack the deserving fellow in order that 
one who was totally untit might he kept in his place. 

Senator McKellar. How long would it take, have you any idea, to reduce 
it to the amount that you reduce it here? 

Secretary AA'eeks. That could he tigured out. I don’t think it has been, hut 
it can l)e done. It is simply a question of taking the ages of the officers and 
seeTig how many there are who'would he retired annually in those grades. 

The CnAiR]\[AN. You would have to figure out how long it would take 105 
colonels to become eligible for retirement under the existing law; 115 lieuten¬ 
ant colonels in the same way, and so on down. AATien you come to tiguring on 
022 otlicers who can not he moved—can not he promoted—no one could he 
promoted, and you wait for 022 officers to reach the retiring age, you would 
have quite a wait. 

Senator Btursi^m. You have 1,345 officers? 

The Chairman. As I understand, it is 022 tlnit it is estimated are to be re- 
tirtHl in the next five months. 

Secretary AA'eeks. That is the number that I understand. 

Senator BursTtm. According to this list you have over 751 (*aptains, 372 
majors, 119 lieutenant colonels, and 103 colonels. 


REDUC'TION OF COMMISSIONED PEIISONNEL. 


9 


Senator lioinNsoN. I understood you a few inoiueuts a,i;o to say tliat tliis 
adoustiuent is justitied without rejrard to any i)rol)al)le action that inif^lit l)e 
taken in tlie future concernin.^ the mnnher of men to he retained in the Arinv. 

Secretary M’keks. I so consider it, yes. 

Senator Roiunson. A ou tliink tliat whether the Army he further reduced or 
slightly iuci’eased this numher of olticers is necessary and will he adequate. 

Secietai.\ Meeks. 1 his uumla^r of oflicers is necessary for the entire pur¬ 
poses tor which w(‘ use the oflicei’s of the Uej^ular Army. 

Senator Kouikson. Senator Fletc'her asked ,\<)u a question about the prob¬ 
able effect of the further reduction of of the numher of oflicers. and that 

l)romi)ts the impiiry as to what would he the probable effect if it should he 
reduced by one-third or one-half. That is, if a very pjreat reduction should 
he made? 

Secretary MT:eks. M’ell, we are nec(‘ssarily tioiujr to increase the use of oflicers 
in connection with the restuwes and the National Guard. All this unusual work 
which did not exist before the wai' recpiirt's a quota of I'eirular officers, and 
that ])rohahly is increasinj;. It will require more regular oflicers next year tliaii 
it does this year. Then, we can not reduce the numher of officers serving with 
troops materially unh'ss there is a reari'anj^emeiit of the (Udire Io(*ation of trooj^s 
in the I nited States and abroad. I said a little time a.i?o that there are 250 
]K)sts of one kind or another in the United States where there art* troops servinj;. 
Supi)ose there ai'e TOP or To or 120 troops at some post: the numher of officers 
that would serve with them would he nearly the same numher with To as with 12o. 

Senator Koinxsox. I understand .vou to im])ly, then, that if a very jireat reduc¬ 
tion. such as was suirjtested in my (luestion. should he made, you would not only 
he unable to meet the re(pnremeuts for an increase in the numher of officers for 
assiiinment in connection with the jjuard service hut .vou woidd he coiiqtelled t(‘ 
withdraw, or he unable to sui)i)ly the ]»resent recpiirements. 

S(‘cretar.v M'eeks. We probably would he unable to supitly future requirements. 
Incidentall.v. 1 would like to say, Mi\ (Mniirman, that it is in the law that re¬ 
tired oflicei's shall he detailed for C(‘rtain services. I am opiK)sed to that law. 
I hope the Uonii:ress will see tit to repeal that. There is not any real purpose 
in compelliiii; the department to assij^n retired officers to any service. In fact, 
if we have a sufficient numher of oflicers on the active list, as we should have, 
the.v are performinj; active duty, and when an officer is retired he should con¬ 
tinue on the retired list as a retired officer, unless some unusual emer.^ency 
arises. I would like to see that law repealed. 

Another thiiq;, in relation to the same jieneral siih.ject, we are promoting 
officers on the i-etired list constantly under the law. If an oflicer retires after 
20 .vears’ service and then jiets assigned to duty as a retired oflicer and serves 
for five years or some other time, he is entitled to promotion if thost' who were 
in his same jreneral standing; have been i)romoted in the meantime. So that on 
the one hand we are coin])elled to use retired officers in certain places, and then, 
if they do serve, the.v j^et a ])romotion. The whole thini; would he unnecessary 
if there was a suflicitmt numher of oflicers on the active list, I think hotl, 
I)rovisions of the law are unwise. 

The (''hatrmax. As you know, ]\Ir. Secretary, the joint committee of the 
Congress char.i;ed with the reportinj? of the pay allowance in the .service, in the 
hill which it has decided to re])ort, i)rovides for the cessation of the promotion 
of officers on the retired list. 


Secretary AVeeks. Y(*s. 

The ('hairmax. I thiidc that i)i-ovision of the law to which the Secretai-y refers 
is to the effect that when retired oflicers are available and tit they shall he 
assij^ned to these si)ecltic duties. 

Secretary AVeeks. Yes. 

The (’hatrmax. It is left to you, what little discretion there is left, so that 
you may say that an officer is unfit for that special duty. 

Secretarv AAT:eks. There is constant pressure. Sometimes you can not say 
an offici r is unfit, if he is on the retired list, to do school duty. A^ou cau not 
honestly say it, and theiv is constant pressure from officers on the retired list, 
throujih their friends, to ttet them assijjqied to active duty, so that as a residt 
the.v will t;et an increase in pay and ^et promotion if the.v serve. 

Senator Kobixsox. I wish you would exi)lain to the c(,mmittee the .grounds 
upon which you has(‘ your ohjecfon to the i)rov.sional law which recpiires 
assi.£?nment of these I’etirtal officers to those dutit'S. 

\;eci-etary AA'eeks. I thiid^ the active officer who has been kecqtin^ u]) with the 
procession,’ as I might say, who has the latest knowledge of the military art. 


10 


REDUCTION OF COMMISSIONED PERSONNEU. 


is naturally better qualified for that service than a man who has been ou the 
ret red Fst and out of the service for a considerable time, and'tliat is the reason 
we object to the reduction in the number of rej^nlar officers. There should be 
a suflicieiit number of regular officers ou the active list to perform all of the 
services winch the law requires. 

The Chairman. It is to be said also that the retired officer is a good deal 
older than the active officer, and in many of these schools ami special activ.ties 
it is wise, is it not, to have young, active men who come in contact with the 
boys at the universities and the K. O. T. C. and the young men of the-Guard. 

Secretary Weeks. It is better for them. I have frequent appeals—I have 
one to-day in my mail, to retire an officer who is approaching class B, and then 
assign him to certain definite duty with a school. In the first place, class B 
might get him, and in the second place he would' not be the best available 
material for that school if he M'ere on the retired list. Yet, that request comes, 
as do the requests that yon gentlemen get, from an intimate friend of mine, 
who thinks that an appeal coming from him will have some weight. 

Senator Robinson. I recognize the description. 

The Chairman. Do any of the other Senators desire to ask the Secretary any 
additional questions? 

Senator iMcKELLAR. Your recommendation is that that retired-officer pro¬ 
vision be repealed ? 

Secretary Weeks. I tbink the service would be better off if it were done. 

Senator Robinson. That would still leave it optional with you to asign him 
to such service? 

Secretary Weeks. Yes: if there were necessity for it. 

Senator McKellar. If you thought you were justified? 

Secretary Weeks. Yes. 

Senator Bursum. The excess under section 3 of capta'ns and' majors is re¬ 
duced, I think, if I understand this right, 194 majors and 39.5 captains. 

Secretary Weeks, I haven’t those figures really in my mind. Senator, I 
think perhaps Gen. Pershing can give you that test mony better than I can. 

Gen. Pershing. Under paragraph 1 the figures show what the new proportion 
would be, and the difference between that and the present number in those vari¬ 
ous grades would give the number to be eliminated. We are only eliminating 
922 now, according to that, but under section 2 of the bill tbe rest are to be 
taken up by absorpfon. That will make whatever your figures are there, 1,345. 

Senator Bursum. Yes; but section 3 provides for additional majors and cap¬ 
tains to the extent of 194 majors and 395 captains. 

Gen. Pershing. I beg your pardon? 

Senator Bursum. Section 3 provides: “That within five months of the date 
of approval of this act the number of officers shall be reduced to not to exceed 
the numbers pre.scribed in section 1 of this act. and 194 additional majors, 395 
additional captains. .32 additional officers of the Dental Corjis, etc.” 

Gen. I’ERSHiNG. Well, I referred to the wrong paragraph there. That would 
be tbe number to be reduced, at the outside, within five months. Idien the rest, 
to get it down to the figures given in section 1, would be by absorption ; some 
5.38, or soino such number: including tbe Medical Department, 083. 

Senator Bursum. By “absorption” does that mean that they will, in the 
ordinary course of events, be retired? 

Gen. Pershing. Well, yes; in tbe ordinary course of events they would be pro¬ 
moted, or possibly some be retired. There would be some deaths. It is the usual 
procedure. 

Senator Bursi^m. Some seniorities in other upper grades that will cause va¬ 
cancies. 

Gen. Pershing. Yes : some promotions to the grade of brigadier general, which 
will make vacancies in every .grade below. 

The Chairman. Do you care to make any further statement, Mr. Secretary? 

Secretary Weeks. I do not recall anything now that I care to say. 

STATEMENT OF GEN. PERSHING, UNITED STATES ARMY. 

The Chaiiu^ian. Gen. Pershing, the committee will be very glad to hear from 
you if you have any general statement to make or any details to point out. There 
are several details in this bill that are susceptible of discussion. It may lie well, 
if you are prepared to do so, to trace tbe structure of the legislation. 

Gen. Pershing. In the preparation of this bill all of tbe different methods of 
reduction were givt^n consideration, and this was concluded to be the most rea¬ 
sonable and the fairest to all concerned. 


riEDUC’TlON OF COMMISSIONED PERSONNEL. 


11 


M"e liave now ni)i)roxiinately olRcors on tho active list, bnt as stated by 

the Secretary of M'ar, of course they are not in tlie tirades which they slioiild 
be, becans(* the i^roinotions were made on the basis of 17,000 ofliccrs, as provi<led 
in the law of 1020, and natnrally the construction jiut on the law was that all 
vacancies, as they occurred, were to be lilled ; so that it has jiiven \is a much 
larf^er proj^ortion of ollicers in the liijujher grades than would be allowed on the 
proposed 14,000 basis. 

It was concluded also that to undertake to eliminate all of these sui’plus 
officers on the 14,000 basis, would make it necessary to drop a number of olficers 
who were really very (‘dicient, and so we concluded to utilize both of the nudhods 
of reduction ; that is, by elimination of a })Oi rion and absorjition of the rest. 

Now, the basis of this reduction is that we reach the 14,000 by us nj>: a hori¬ 
zontal percentaire of 17.0, jrenerally speakin.e;. That jii'ts us down to the num¬ 
bers we desire to reach, but we do not apply it immediately in all .grades. For 
instance, in the .grades of major and captain only 8 per cent is applied at once, 
and the rest are absorbed. 

No detiinte elimination is reipiired in the fjrade of first lieutenant. Idiere is 
no surjtlus there. The elimination of those officers of the sine:le list would 
averaj^e about ID }»er cent. As to tbe Medical (Viriis we encountered some little 
difliculty there be(*ause the present law fixed the number of medical ollicers in 
proportion to tbe number of enlisted men in the Army. It is iier thousand of 
the number of enlistial men. M'e have now some 1,146. Tins law would reduce 
to the fixed number of l.O.IR. eliminating tbe percentage standard that now 
fixes the streiifxth of the Medical Corps, the reason beinj>: that of course we have 
new duties for the reiiular medical establishment in connection with the or- 
^mnization of the National Cuard and the reserves, and we feel that it ought 
to remain at about that number. 

As to the other branches of the Medical Department, the dental and medi(“al 
administrative corps are reduced in a similar ratio, and the same applies to the 
Veterinary Corjis. 

As to the elimination of these oflicers, there are several methods. In the first 
place, officers are i)ermitte(l to retire and receive 3 per cent of the pay of their 
grade for every year of s('rvice, up to 70 per cent. That of course is something 
of an inducement—I mean it distinguishes an officer retiring under those cir¬ 
cumstances from one retiring under class P>, where they receive only 2| i)er cent 
after a certain number of years’ service. 

Senator McKkllau. Suppose there are not enough retired voluntarily, how 
would you go about selecting tbe others? How would you go }d)out selecting 
the names you would take up to bring before the board? 

Gen. PEKsniN(i. Well, as a matter of fact, during the last few years we have 
very complete recor<ls of the services of all officers in the Army, and I think 
that with those records, lists could be prepared in a very brief time. The rec¬ 
ords are very complete, as in order to carry out this class P> classification we 
have been forced to comi)lete the records of every officer in the Army. Nearly 
all the geiu'ral oflicers now coidd take a list of officers and scratch off the names 
of the least efficient. AVe have a v(U-y complete record of the standing and ability 
of the officers on file in the dei)artment. 

The officers with less than seven and one-half years of actual service or con¬ 
structive service would be discharged with one year’s ])ay. Those from 7^ to 
10 years’ service would be discharged with two years’ pay. All above 10 years 
would then come in under the general retirement clause entitling them to 3 
per cent of their pay for every year of service. 

As the Secretary of M'ar stated, of course, there will be more or less <lissatis- 
faction witli this retirement of officers, but that would be expected under any 
and all circumstances. It is believed that the increase of rate of retired ])ay 
from the 24 per cent of class B officers to 3 per cent per year of their active i)ay 
would be something of an inducement to officers who were on the verge of being 
selected for compulsory retirement to retire of their own volition. 

Seiiator Fletciiek. Might I interrupt you there a moment, General? We 
want to be careful not to have this provision for retirement conflict with the 
general retirement law. In other words, have a ]u-ovision retiring these olfic(u-s 
complying with this act not to affect the general law on the subject of retire¬ 
ments, Have you got that sullicientl.v in the bill? 

Gen. I’ersiiing. Well, we had rather hoiual that there would be a more lilteral 
attitude taken toward retirements. For instance, in this bill we i)rovide for 
an extension of the present law, permitting retirement l)y the President of all 
officers who ha^’e reached the age of 02 years or Imve served over 4Z years. 


12 


REDUCTION OF COMMISSIONED PERSONNEL. 


Senator T'’r.FTC'HKi:. Section 5 says “ tliat within five niontlis of the date of 
a])Droval of this act tlie President may, in his d.iscretion and in»on the aiipli- 
catioii from the othcer concerned, place ofhcers upon the unlimited retired list 
or discha.rA'e ollicers nnder the same conditions as to length of service ami pay 
as described in ti’e following section of lids act.” The I*residont can do that. 
I think that is a very 80 (»d provision. 

Gen, Pkhsiiixg. Yes. The proviso of this section would cause the President's 
authority to retire ollicers to he extended to all otlicers of over 30 years' sei'vice. 

The Chairman. You might state for the purposes of the record. General, just 
what the present law i)ro\'ides as to I’etiremcnt. 

Gen. I'EKSHiNG. The present law recpdres retirement at the age of 04. An 
ollicei- can be retired upon his own re(]iiest at 62, or the I’resident has authority 
to retire him at. the age of 02, hut within the di.scretion of the President an 
ollicer can be retired upon his own application after 30 years of .service. 

The CiiAiEMAN. He has the right to retire after 40 ye ir.s. 

Gen. Pershing. After 40 years his retirement is mandatory upon request, 
and upon being requested his retirement is within the discretion of the Ih-esi- 
dent after 30 years. 

The Chairman. Then this proviso at the l)ottom of page 4 gives the President 
comi)lete authority to retire any officer who has reachecl any one of these cate¬ 
gories? 

G(‘n. Pershing. Yes: after .30 years’ service. 

Senator jMcKellar. He is retired also on account of disability? 

Gen. Pershing. Yes. 

The Chairman. That is not affected. 

Senator Fletcher, What would yon think about I'aising these limits some. 
General? Would that be a limitation that would he advantageous in these day.s 
when we are trying to economize, to raise those limits from 04 to 70, sa.v, and 
from 30 years up to 40 years, or 40 up to 4.'), or .something like tint? 

Gen. Pershing. Well, it would nndie it difficult for ns to eliminate a lot of 
men who have reached the point where our exiierience shoM’s they are not tit 
for active service, and I do not think the age ought to be raised. I would 
rathei* see it lowered. Of course, there are exceptions to that, where men have 
held high r;ink that required nothing but the exercise of good judgment from 
a safe and .secure position at some headquarters, but for real active service I 
do not think the age ought to be increased. As I say, I would rather st^e it 
decreased. 

Senator Fletcher. If you decrease it you will decrease your retired list 
there; you have got a large lot of men drawing three-quarters pa.v for nothing:. 

The Chairman. Put to contrast that, you would have a larger active li.st of 
incompetents at full pay. 

Senator Fletcher. AVell, this board could manage that, couldn’t they? The 
hoard m’ght manage that? 

Gen. Pershing. The board provided for in this law is only for the purpose 
of this parfcular reduction. 

Senator IMcKellar. And when it is done, they go out? 

Gen, Pershing. When it is done they go out. There is no permanent pro- 
vis’on by which a board of officers could act on any specific case. 

The Chairman. It ought to be stated that these officers who are to be re¬ 
tired by til's board are specifically ‘‘ supernumerary officers,” and they are 
constantly referred to througliout the act by that designation, 

Gen. Pershing. That means a certain number of officers in each grade which 
is in excess of the number prescribed in this bill. 

The Chairman. Yes; but when the five months’ task is finished and there 
are no longer any supernumerary officers, of course, the act ceases to operate? 

Gen. Pershing. Yes. 

The Chairman. It is onl.v for tlie purpose of this one act? 

Gen. Pershing. Yes. 

Senator IMcKellar. That word “supernumerary” there is rather mislead¬ 
ing. I asked Gen. Pershing a little while ago what it meant. 

Gen. I’ERSHiNG. The re.sult of this bill will be an elevation of the standard 
of efficiency in the service, without any doubt. Not only will it eliminate 
the officers of the various grades who are lowest in efficiency, hut it will be a 
spur and a warning to all others. It will work two ways, so that you will get, 
I think, much greater efficiency in the service than would appear on the face 
of it. 


riEDUC'TlON OF (’OjMAITSSTONED PERSONNEL. 


13 


1 . iiit<n-ost;iij;- to state that in the application of the 

nn\ ot J.) () tlie War I)ei)artin(‘nt has a new mission. In addition to simply 
tiaminji the ue^nlar Aimiy and kee])inf;’ it up to a state of ellieiency, it has the 
orji’amzation of the National (Jnard and the Orjtanized Reserves; their amaljta- 
matimi and the coordination of their work with that of the Regnlar Army 
itselt, for the pnrpose of hiiildin.it: np the Army of the lAiited States. This 
IS the first tme in the liistory of the country that we ever had anything that 
e^en looked l.ke a military policy. The War I>et)artment has undertaken, 
^yith a ^reat deal of enthnsiasm, the workin,it: ont of this (excellent [ilan, and we 
tind in the National (Inard and amonjt: tlu‘ cltizenshi]) jt:enerally very ^reat 
interest in it. Those three branches of the service are soins id'onj;' together 
harmoniously, (pnte actively, and all are interested in f>:ettinfx the results that 
on.i^ht to he expected. So, we are reipilred. naturally in the Re.itnlar Service, 
to si’iiply a larjie lininher of otlicers for this specific service; md that they 
will be reipiired forever, because as the etliciency of the National (Juard and 
the Oriranized Reserves increa.^es there wdl be available an increasing? number 
of yonnirer otlicei-s from those two elements of the Army to assist in the 
instruction of the m'w men who come in as individuals and as members of 
units to till np the ranks of those two elements. So that it is quite important 
now that the Re^jular Army be slven every enconraftement to do this sort 
of thin.u'. The fact is, that while the Secretary has charj?ed me especially with 
the conduct of that work, I have found a lot of dillicnlty in jtettinj? capable 
olticers to assi.iiu to National (Jnard and R. (). T. (1. units and to duty in 
oruam'zin;? these re.serve divisions. These should be the best we have, and we 
are now really short of otlicers for those services simply becaii.se we have not 
enonfiii (pialitied otlicm’S. I>nt we have many othcers not ipialitied for these 
duties, and 1 believe we are moving? alon,i? the ri.uht line in propos nj? to elimi¬ 
nate them. 

The (Ti.xniM.VN. It is a sort of mlditional qnalitieation that is demanded of 
those men. They have to be men that can impart that military knowlod,i;e to 
citizen .soldiers. 

EJen. Pkkshino. Yes. 

The C'HAiKJkiAX. And live with them. 

Senator IMcKei.i.ak. And .iret alon^r with colle.i?e authorities? They have to 
have more oi’ less personality? 

(Jen. Pekshtxg. Yes. Then, the class of instrnetion is different these days 
from what it used to be. In the olden da.vs it was ordinary barracks-yanl drill, 
and the manual of arm.s, and that .sort of thinj;. That was (‘onsidered all that 
was neces.sary. Now these yonn^ men are provided with instructors, as fjir 
as possible, many of whom have had exiH'rience in the war, and as many as pos¬ 
sible who have had traininj? at Camp Bennin.s:. and often in ‘Id days’ trainin,i? 
that we j?ive these youn.s: men in the summer time they are taken throujth. in 
a jteneral way, the entire course of instruction to ^?ive them an idea of battle. 
In one camp last year they had somethiipc: like a thousand or twelve hundred 
men, none of whom had ever seen a j?un, never had on a uniform. They were 
taken hurriedly throiiith the school of the soldier, the schools of the company 
and battalion, and actually themselves conducted an attack over varied .around, 
with the support of artillery, workina out all the neces.‘^ary steps leadina to the 
assault. That is the trainina that is ijivolved foi- these nuMi; not that they are 
at all i)erfect or anywhere near it, but it aives them a concei)tion of what the 
trainina i-^ leadina np to. That is the class of traiiiina that we are under- 
takina to aive, and it requires efticient officers to do it. 

Senator Robinson. Can you state approximately how many (»fficers are re¬ 
quired now for that class of service? 

Cmi. I’EBSHTNU. I can aive you in a aeneral way the number of otlicers that 
are enaaaed in school work. For the summer work we require quite an addi¬ 
tional number of officers. The peak of our load comes in the summer time, when 
we have the tra.'nina camps, when we liave the National fJuard units to train 
and the reserve ofliccrs’ camps, and all of that. The tianres I have would 
hardly aive you .pi.st what you have asked for, but most of these men would 
be u.sed for the summer trainina- We have at the Army War Colleae a staff of 
26 officers with 92 students. 

Senator New. The students are themselves officers, are they? 

Gen. Peijshing. Yes. 

Senator PTetcher. What is the grade of those officers? 


14 


REDUCTION OF COMMISSIONED PERS0NNP:L. 


Gen. Pkrshing. No parlieiilar jsrado required. Tliey are usually selected from 
among the Held officers. They range from 82 to 45 or 48 years of age. 

Senator Kokinson. How are they selected? How is it determined who shall 
have the benefit of that training? 

Gen. Pershing. AVell, we nsnally send the men who have graduated from the 
line school at Fort Leavenwortli and also from tlie staff school at Fort Leaven¬ 
worth. It is not necessarily so, but a large proportion of the officers who go 
to the War College are taken from the Fort Leavenworth graduates. 

Now, to continue: AVe have the special-service schools. Each-sraff depart¬ 
ment and each branch of the service has a special school for the instruction of 
its officers in the particular duties of that branch or staff department. At 
these schools there are 659 staff and instructors—those are actually on duty 
now—and 1,283 students. At the Military Academy we have 180 staff and 
instructors. This would make the total number of officers at the schools 2,565. 
If we are going to fulfill the obligations that have been imposed on the Regular 
Army, I do not think those schools ought to be reduced at all. In fact, they 
ought to be increased rather than otherwise. 

Senator New. AAliat was the total? 

Gen. Pershing. Two thousand five hundred and sixty-five. 

The Chairman. Those are officer teachers and officer students? 

Gen. Pershing. Officer teachers and officer students. 

Senator AACvrren. That is at this season of the year? 

Gen. Pershing. That is now. 

Senator AAArren. In the summer it is considerably increased? 

Gen. Pershing. In the summer time the number of officers on instructional 
duty is considerably increased by taking the available officers from the troops 
that are near at hand—near the location of the training camps. AA"e undertake 
to select especially the younger class of men who have recently graduated from 
(kimp Penning or one of the special schools pertaining to one of the arms, 
who are fresh and keen on that work. 

Senator 1‘epper. It can no longer be said, then, that the Army is a service 
aloof from the life of the people; it has become, as I understand it, really a 
])art of the great educational system for fitting young civilians for all kinds 
of responsibil.ties? 

Gen. Pershing. That is a very clear way to put it. Senator. It is just that. 

It might interest the committee, Mr. Chairman, to know that I have just paid 
a visit to Champaign, Ill., at the invitation of the president of the University 
of Illinois, and witnessed a command of 2,500 men, in their R. O. T. C. units, 
drawn up in line for presentation of medals and for a little ceremony. I never 
saw a finer body of young men. They stand up straight; they are clean-cut; 
the uniforms are well fitted, and the president of the university said to me 
that that department was the most important department he had in his institu¬ 
tion. Fie said, in substance, “ I don’t know whether you military men really 
appreciate it, but the effect of having this command in such splendid shape 
has materially increased the discipline of the university as a whole, and the 
efficiency of the students as a whole.” Now, those men spent only from three 
to five hours per week in that work. 

Senator Robinson. I do not want to stop your discussion. It is very inter¬ 
esting and very instructive, but before you get away from it I would like to 
get a little more definite idea of the total number of officers that during some 
parts of the year are required tor this training and educational purpose. Ffive 
hundred and fifty are regularly euqiloyed there as teachers in the military 
schools, and in add.tion to that you have various summer activities. AA^ill voii 
explain a little more something about that and give aj)proxiinately the number 
that are required there? 

Gen. ITrshing. AA’ell, I can give you the actual numbers that we had hist 
year. Last year we undertook to train 12,000 in the citizens’ inilitarv training 
canqis—12,000 men in 10 or 12 different camps. The students at "each one 
were organized into a regiment. I do not remember exactly how many officers 
they had, hut something like 10 or 12 officers to each camp, espec'iallv for 
training, besides those who were necessary to provide medical attention and 
the quartermasters who were to provide food. Those bovs were not required 
to do anything except military work ; so that the Regular Army detachments or 
organizations really prepared their camp and did everything .in the line of 


REDUCTION OF COMMISSIONED PERSONNEL. 


15 


policinj^ and feeiliiig that was necessary to be done. The entire time of tlie 
students was devoted to military instruction. So, you see that takes up (luite 
a number of officers. 

I could have that all figured out in detail if you desired it. 

Senator Kohinson. I think it would be valuable, if it is not too much trouble. 

Cen. I'EusHiNG. It is not any trouble at all. 

The follow ng was furnished in comifiiance with Senator Kobinson’s re¬ 
quest ; Immediately prior to and during the camps a number of Regular Army 
officers equivalent to about 6 ]iei‘ cent of the number of young men to be 
instructed in the camps is required. The number of men instructed depends 
upon the ai)propriations. This year it is anticipated 27,000 will be in at¬ 
tendance. This will require about 1,020 officers. The officers will be on this 
special duty for about six weeks. These officers Avill be drawn from the gen¬ 
eral pool of officers maintained for the Military Establishment as a whole. The 
principal sources from which they will be drawn are the service schools, the 
R. (). T. C., the National Guard, and the Organized Reserves. 

It is not contemi)lated that officers be maintained solely for this or any other 
duty requiring their services for only a portion of their time. It is manifest, 
however, that the general pool of officers must be sufficiently large to provide, 
without serious impairment of other activities, the officers needed for the 
civilian military training camps and other short periodic activities, most of 
which occur in the summer training season. 

Senator Robinson. How long do these activities usually continue—these 
citizens’ training camps? 

Gen. Pershing. Well, including the preparation for them—we are beginning 
now to make plans for next year for training something like 27,000; that is, 
this coming year. That is more than double what we had last year. It is a 
pretty large undertaking, because we have to select the location of those camps 
and prepare them to house those men or to put them under tents; send their com¬ 
missary supplies, necessary clothing, eiiuipment, and food, and all of those 
things that are necessary. 

Senator Fletcher. Honv do you get an idea of the number you will have 
to take care of each year. General? Do you have applications come in? 

Gen. Pershing. Well, last year my recollection is that we had 60,000 appli¬ 
cants. 

The Chairman. And your appropriation held you to 12,000? 

Gen. Pershing. Our appropriation held us to 12,000. I believe myself that 
this next year we could have 100,000 if we had the money. 

Senator Fletcher. The interest is really growing in it? 

Gen. Pershing. Very, very much; but we have only asked this year for the 
27,000. 

The Chairman. Senator Robinson asked you how long it continued. It is 
five weeks, is it not? 

Gen. Pershing. The actual training is four weeks from the day they arrive 
until they depart. 

Senator IMcKellar. How many officers in the Army are stationed outside of 
continental United States? 

Gen. Pershing. We have on foreign service to-day 1,907 officers. 

Senator McKellar. Does that include military attaches? 

Gen. Pershing. Well, no. It includes officers with organized units. 

Senator IMcKellar. In our foreign possessions? 

‘ Gen. Pershing. Yes, sir. That is, on duty with troops. It does not include 
military attaches. 

Senator Robinson. How many officers are with the army of occupation now? 

Gen. Pershing. Well, Senator, there are something like about 5,000 men left 
there now, but orders have recently been issued reducing that down to 2.000. 
I do not know how many officers there are, but the orders will bring the 
numbers down considerably. 

Senator IMcKellar. I think it would be wise for you to give how^ the various 
officers of the Army are distril)uted now, in what capacity, and things of that 
sort, so that we can have it in the record. 

Gen. Pershing. I have that here on some rough notes, but I can make that 
out accurately and put it in the record. 

Senator McKellar. I think it would be very interesting if you would do that. 

94801—22-2 



16 


REDUCTION OF COMMISSIONED PERSONNEE. 


TahvlatiO)i shou'iny the (Jistrihution of present commissioned personnel of the 

Regular Army by functions. 

PAET 1. 

For duties iiKlependoiit of enli&'ted strength of Regular Army component: 

I, General administration and overhead— Number. 

1. War Department General Staff_ 102 

2. OHices of branches_'_ 479 

3. Civil, semimilitary, and military duties_ 319 

4. Corps area staffs_ 415 

5. Depots, arsenals, hospitals, and miscellaneous_^ 1,071 


Total_ 2. 386 


II. Service schools— 

1. General service schools_ 446 

2. Special service schools_ 1, 928 

3. United States Military Academy_ 179 

4^ Students’ special courses_j_ 108 


Total_ 2,661 


III. Reserve military forces— 

1. National Guard__ 208 

2. Organized reserves_ 247 

3. Reserve officers’ training corps_ 654 

4. Training centers_ 105 


Total_ 1, 214 


Total for overhead for Army of the United States_ 6, 261 


PAKT 2. 

For duty with organizations of the Regular Army component: 

IV. Expeditionary force in United States— 

1. Active Regular Army units_ 4, 269 


V. Coast defense. United States— 

1. Coast Artillery commands_'_ 389 

2. Air Service and Staff Department officers_ 123 


Total___ 512 


VI. Insular garrisons— 

1. Philippine Islands_ 675 

2. Hawaii_ 452 

3. Panama Canal Zone_ 326 

4. Porto Rico_ 37 

5. American forces in Germany_ 404 


Total_ 1, 894 


Total for Regular Army components___ 6, 675 


Summary: 

Part 1. Overhead for whole establishment_ 6, 261 

Part 2. For active Regular Army_ 6, 675 


For all purposes_12, 936 

Gen. Pershing. The Senator just asked about the number of officers on duty 
at schools as instructors and staff and as students. That reaches a total of 
2,565. Then for what we call the overhead you have in the War Department 
General Staff 104, in the offices of the various branches 475, miscellaneous 291. 
I don’t know that it is necessary to go into all these details. 























































REDUCTION OF COMMISSIONED PERSONNEL. 


17 


The CHAiiarAN. I think it does no harm. 

The total, incliidinj? that sort of thing and miscellaneous 
ci\ il and semimilitary duties, depots, arsenals, hospitals, and so on totals 2,276 
1 have iindertaken to reduce the number of officers on those duties, especially 
here 111 Washington. I believe that the General Staff itself and the offices of 
ciiiets of hrins can be reduced so that we can cut that ffgnre considerably The 
next Item would be officers for duty with the National Guard, Organized Re- 
seiwes, and R. ( ). 1\ C., and for training centers. We have only 194 officers on 
diit.\ with the National Guard and the Chief of the ^lilitia liiirean reports de¬ 
mands that would cause an increase of that number to 225 immediately. 

Ihe Chatuman. As n matter of fact, that demand comes from the National 
Guard itself? 


Gen. Pekshixg. That comes from the National Guard itself, yes. 

Senator Robinson. In that connection say wdiy it is not supplied. 

(ten. Pershing. Well, we have not the availalile officers to supply them, 
really, without just taking them from the duties that we consider more neces¬ 
sary for the moment. Transportation also comes in there. 

The Chairman. It might be stated that the trans]iortation appropriation in 
the army appropriation bill is so small that these ollicers can not travel to take 
positions with the guard. 

Gen. Pershing. Yes. Now’, the Organized Reserves; w^e have 121 officers 
on duty when really our plan calls for a little over 1.000. It calls for 1,154. 
That is, of course, when w’e get far enough along to begin to hold some sort 
of instruction in these 27 reserve divisions. W"e need a few more now. W^e 
ought to have 500 or 600, I should say, in order to help organize these divi¬ 
sions, but we have only 121. 

In the R. O. T. C. units, which correspond to that unit that I spoke of at the 
University of Illinois, w’e have 650 officers, all doing most excellent w’ork. 

Senator Robinson. In that connection there have been a number of reports 
made to the chairman of this committee. 

The Ch.:Urman. Yes; and the committee had them printed as a public docu¬ 
ment. 

Senator IVIcKellar. That is one of the best services you have got? 

Gen. Pershing. It is. It is a splendid service. 

Senator McKellak. You have a great many noncommissioned officers in 
there, too ? 

Gen. Pershing. Yes, sir. 

Senator McKellar. And they have all been doing good wmrk as far as I 
have been able to tell. 

The Chairman. There w’ere about 40 university presidents replied out of 
the 42 or 43, and w’ith one exception they were very enthusiastic. 

Gen. Pershing. W'e have a number of officers at w’hat we call our training 
centers. The total of these officers on staff and detached duties is 6,962; adding 
thereto the officers on foreign service and wdth organizations in the United 
States runs the total up to just about the 13,000. The officers actually perform 
those duties to-day, none of wdiicli, as far as I see, can be eliminated without 
reducing the efficiency of the service. 

The Chairman. Now, this bill provides that that number, 13,000, shall be 
adhered to for the next fiscal year, does it not? 

Gen. Pershing. Yes, sir. 

The Chairman. And that thereafter it may go to 14,000 and remain there? 

Gen. Pershing. Yes, .sir. 

The Chairman. So that for the next fiscal year you are not going to ask 
of the Congress an appropriation for more than the 13,000? 

Gen. Pershing. Thirteen thousand. 

The Chairman. But you do ask for that 13,000 to be better distributed in 
the grades? 

Gen. Pershing. Y^es, sir. 

The Chairman. General, there was one little point, comparatively easy, 
but it might have some importance, that I w’anted to bring to your attention. 
It has been suggested to me—my mind is open on the subject—in section 6 
at the top of page 5 w’e find that provision for retirement, and it is to be 
noted that commissioned service only is to count in the computation of the 
retirements. The suggestion has been made to me personally that enlisted 
service be also counted in the event that the officer affected had served as an 
enli.sted man prior to receiving his commission. In other w’ords, j’ou have 


1.8 


REDUCTION OF COMMISSIONED PERSONNEL. 


got quite a nuniber of officers wlio were formerly ^noncommissioned officers— 
enlisted men, who have been officers only a very few years, but who have 
been in the Army 20 or 25 years, and the point was raised. Should that enlisted 
service count and be put to their credit in calculating the retired pay? 

Gen. Pershing. Of course, if it were counted it would increase very ma¬ 
terially the cost in a number of instances, but I should think it ought to have 
certain weight; whether it had full weight or not I am not prepared to say 
without making some figures on it. 

The Chairman. I say now my mind is open on it, but it is an interesting 
point. You take an officer of only three or four years service who had been 
an enlisted man for 20 years, and under this he would be discharged with one 
year’s pay, and he is now we will say close to 50 years old. 

Gen. Pershing. Well, of course, there is precedent for it in the fact that 
officers who graduated from the Military Academy are allowed to count their 
four years’ service there. 

The Chairman. Not since 1916? The statute was changed. The officers who 
came in in 1916 did not get the Academy service. 

Gen. Pershing. Yes; that is true. 

The Chairman. Of course, if the enlisted service was included here, the same 
argument would apply for the inclusion of West Point service, which has been 
definitely abolished in the changing statutes. 

Senator Robinson. Of course, the effect of that arrangement would be to very 
greatly increase the cost. 

The Chairman. Depending upon how many officers who were former enlisted 
men would be among those supernumerary officers. There might be very very 
few of them. 

Gen, Pershing. I can have some estimate made on that. (The estimate is 
appended, marked “Exhibit A.”) 


Exhibit A. 


ESTIMATE OF ADDITIONAL COST OF CREDITING ENLISTED SERVICE FOR PAY UPON 

elimination. 


1. Of the colonels now in the Army 79 have enlisted service to their credit. 
As we are eliminating 17.6 per cent of the colonels, it may be assumed that 17.6 
per cent of those with enlisted service will be included. This would mean the 
elimination of 14 colonels having enlisted service. Their average enlisted 
service would be at least three years, sufficient to bring the retired pay of all of 
them up to 75 per cent. In fact their retired pay, not counting enlisted service, 
will, in most cases, be 75 per cent so that there is very Ititle difference 
financially due to counting enlisted service for officers in this grade. 

2. The present lieutenant colonels have enlisted service, as follows: 


Less than 5 years. 

5 to 10 years_ 

10 to 15 years_ 

15 to 20 years_ 

20 years or over__. 


249 

15 

4 


Assuming 17.6 per cent of these to be included in the elimination would result 
in the retirement of 47 lieutenant colonels at 75 per cent pay instead of 66 
per cent pay. The additional retired pay due to counting enlisted service would 
be 9 per cent or $405 per year for each officer. The increased cost per year for 
the 47 officers would be $19,035. If these officers are on the retired list 25 
years the additional cost would be $475,875. 

3. The present majors have enlisted service as follows: 


Less than 5 years_363 

5 to 10 years_ 64 

10 to 15 years_ 15 

15 to 20 years_ 9 

20 years or over_:_ 1 


Total__452 

Of the majors to be eliminated it may be assumed that if enlisted service is 
counted about 6 per cent of the above will be retired (having over 10 years’ 
service to their credit), and about 2.8 per cent will be discharged (not having 














REDUCTION OF COMMISSIONED PERSONNEL. 


19 


10 years service to tlieir credit) with 2 years’ pay. Applying these percentages 
to tlie above 452 we would liave 27 majors with enlisted service to retire and 
13 to discharge. Tlie average commissioned service of the 27 majors would he 
about 15 years; the average enlisted service would be about 5 years. The 
additional cost for each would be about 15 per cent, or $000 per year. For the 
2< tlie additional cost would be $10,200 per year. If these 27 remain on the 
retired list 30 years, the total additional cost would be $480,000. The actual 
additional cost will he greater than tliis, as a portion of the 27—it is impossible 
to say how many—would probably, if enlisted service were not counted, be 
discharged with two years’ pay. 

Of the 13 majors discharged, it appears reasonable to assume that the only 
eflect of counting enlisted service is to give about four of them two years’ pay 
instead of one year’s pay. The additional cost because of this would be about 
$13,200. 

The total additional exjiense in the grade of major, due to counting enlisted 
service, would be about $500,000. 

4. The present captains have enlisted service as follows: 


Tiess than 5 years_1, 002 

5 to 10 years_ 210 

10 to 15 years_ 110 

15 to 20 years_ 172 

20 years or over_ 31 


Total_1, 525 


As the total elimination of captains is about 9 per cent, it may be assumed 
that 9 per cent of each of the above groups would be eliminated. The average 
length of commissioned service of the captains is 5.5 years. Counting only such 
service, they would all go out with one year’s pay. For each of the above groups 
it may be assumed that the average enlisted service is as follows: 

Years. 


TiCss than 5 years_ 2. 5 

5 to 10 years_ 7. 5 

10 to 15 years___12. 5 

15 to 20 years_17. 5 

20 years or over_25. 0 

And of each group we would be eliminating the following number: 

Less than 5 years__ 90 

5 to 10 years_ 18 

10 to 15 years___ 10 

15 to 20 years__ 16 

’20 years or over_ 3 


Total_^_137 


The 90 of the tirst group would receive two years’ pay instead of one, an 
increased cost of $237,600. 

The 18 of the second group would be retired with 39 per cent pay instead 
of being discharged with one year’s pay. Assuming they would remain on the 
retired list 30 years the additional cost would be $554,688. 

The 10 of the third group would be retired with 54 per cent i>ay instead 
of being discharged with one year’s pay. Assuming they would remain on the 
retired list 25 years the additional cost would be .$390,<KK). 

The 16 of the fourth group would be retired with 69 per cent pay instead 
of being discharged with one year’s pay. Assuming they would remain on 
the i-etired list 20 years the additional cost would be $688,128. 

The three of the tifth group would be retired with 75 per cent pay instead 
of being discharged with one year’s pay. Assuming they would remain on the 
retired list 15 years the additional cost would be $103,320. 

For the total of 137 captains the additional cost due to counting enlisted 
service would be $1,973,136. 

5. The (Uily tirst lieutenants to be eliminated having enlisted service would 
be tho.se in the Medical Administi’ative C’orps. There will be only three of these 
and the additional cost would be negligible. 





















20 


REDUCTION OF COMMISSIONED PERSONNEL, 


G. The total additional 'cost of coiiutinj? enlisted service under the assump¬ 
tions made in the above estimate would be as follows: 


Colonels _ 

Lieutenant colonels 

INIajors _ 

Captains_ 

First lieutenants_ 


Ne^,digible. 
$475, 875 
500, 000 
1, 973,136 
Negligible. 


Total_ 2,949,011 

This cost is spread over an average period of 20 years, the average cost per 
year being $147,450. For the first year the cost would be considerably above 
the average due to the two years’ pay to officers discharged. The conditions 
assumed are average. It is fair to presume that crediting enlisted service will 
make retirement so attractive to ofiicers having such service that applications 
will be stimulated and the cost be greater rather than less than that above 
computed. 

7. The preceding data illustrates the effect of counting eidisted service only. 
Consistency would recpiire that, if enlisted service be counted, credit should 
also be given for cadet service. Demands will also be made to count reserve 
and National Guard service. All of these would, of course, add still more 
to the expense of elimination. 

Senator McKellak. It might count so much, very properly I should think, if 
a man had been in the Army 25 years and he is appointed as an officer during 
the war and made a capable officer, it seems to me that his service as a private 
or as a noncommissioned officer should be considered. 

Gen, Pekshing. I think it is a point worthy of giving serious consideration to, 
because what the Senator says is exactly true. A man as certainly entitled to- 
credit for loyal and faithful service in any grade of service. 

Senator Fletchek. There are. cases like this—I don’t know whether they 
would come under the provisions of this bill or not, but cases where men have 
served as officers in the National Guard for a number of years and the National 
Guard was sent to the border and they saw service on the border. Now, there 
was a hiatus between the time they had that service there and the time they 
were federalized. The commissions of those officers would only date from the 
time they came into the Federal service, whereas these officers have actually 
served on the border as National Guard officers, and served for years in the 
National Guards. Under this bill it says, “ in computing service under this 
section only service as a commissioned officer in' the active service of the 
United States shall be counted.” 

Senator McKellar. Can’t you make some investigation and make some recom¬ 
mendation about it? 

Gen. Pershing. Yes; I will be glad to do so. 

The Chairman. It is to be said in that connection that if we start giving 
credit for other than service in the active service of the United States we are 
going to open up a pretty wide field. It is true that the National Guard went 
to the border. The average length of service there was not over six months. 

It would not amount to much; but there are. various other things to be con¬ 
sidered. 

Senator McKellar. Yes; I was thinking more of the enlisted man’s service ‘ 
than I was the other. I think that is more important, because I think a jood 
many officers were brought into the Army under the. act of 1920 that were really 
in the Army a long time as enlisted men and they gave good service during the 
war. 

Gen. Pershing. There is another class of men who would come in. A great 
many who were appointed under the act of 1920 held commissions and were 
officers during the war for a period of two or two and a half years. 

Senator McKellar. Yes. That ought to be considered. 

Gen. Pershing. Yes; that is another. 

The Chairman. I think it would be wise to cling to “ service of the United 
States,” because we will get all kinds of requests if we do not. 

Do you have anything special to say about the IMedical Corps end of this? 

A great deal of the bill is devoted to them, to take care of their special diffi¬ 
culties. 

Gen. Pershing. Well, I do not know that I have anything more to add there. 
Of course, under the present law the strength of the IMedical Corps is always 
fluctuating. It depends upon the size of the Army. This law provides that it 









REDUCTION OF COMMISSIONED PERSONNEL. 


21 


sS‘and‘o‘ne-ha;? pt"" honla.K^wo'^./te 

Tlie Chaikman. In other words, there is a number below whieh it i<^ nnt «nfo 
^^edical Department, irrespective of the size of the Army‘s 

Len. 1 ERSHiNG. I think so; yes, sir. 

The Chairman, You Hgured out that that miiuber is whiit^ 

ceil. I ERSHING. One thousand and litty-thi-ee. Tliat is for'the Medical Conis 

The Chairman. The whole department 1,455 •> "icuicai uoips. 

Gen. Pershinig. Yes, sir. 

Ghairman. That includes the Dental Corps and the veterinaries? 

Gen. Pershing, les, sir; and the Medical Admini,strative Corps. 

«Pt particular reason for the precise percentage 

vtdPd hv «prtff^T arbitrary figures? “The officers pro- 

Mded bj section 1 of this act shall be assigned to the several liranches of the 

Army so that the number assigned to each branch, exclusive of the Medical 
Depaitment and chaplains, shall be 82.4 per cent of the number prescribed for 
such branch. Is there any reason for specifying the exact percentage there? 

•nT’ I'eaUy based upon the fact that the new strength 

\Mll be^8-.4 per cent of the strength provided by the law of 1920. It is stated 
there, I suppose, for tlie purpose of clarity, but if you will read a little further 
on you will see: “ But the Ih-esident may increase or diminish the number of 
officers assigned to any branch by not more than a total of 35 per cent ” So 
It gives the President some discretion there in which he mav assign officers 
of the Infantry for duty with the Cavalry or Artillery, or vice versa, which is a 
very good thing in general. Too often officers of one branch have known very 
little of the technical use of the arms or technical use of units of other branches. 
So that it is the purpose of the War Department now, aside from the fact that 
they might need them, to give them a certain amount of service with the other 
arms. It makes a broader man. The arms in general have to understand each 
other in order to get the best results, and we want each man to have as much 
knowledge of all the other branches as possible. 

I think that I have covered everything, :Mr. Chairman, except that I brought 
here a statement that I had prepared with reference to military policy, which, 
if adopted, would have a direct bearing on the location of the different units to 
the different elements of the Army. 

The Chairman. That statement might just be read and then inserted in the 
record at this point. 

(The statement submitted is as follows:) 


statement submitted by gen. PERSHING. 

The law of 1920 has provided us with a basis upon which to build a really 
efficient military systejn, but there are certain principles involved that should 
be understood in order that all elements may work harmoniously together with 
the common end in view. The World War has materially changed the rela¬ 
tion between the professional soldier and the citizen soldier, and each has 
learned something of the better side of the other. At the same time each 
realizes the necessity for both in time of war, and that preparation in peace 
should be conducted to secure unity of action when war comes upon us. 

In view of a possible reduction in the strength of the Regular Army, although 
relatively small at present, the consideration of the development of a National 
Army from an economical standpoint becomes especially important. Tbe 
national defense act directs the War Department to organize in peace those 
units which may reasonably be required upon mobilization. That is, it should 
form these units with sufficient personnel to assure the required expansion in an 
orderly fashion. In the formation of these organizations the law provides three 
categories as to personnel: 

Pfirst. Regular soldiers, limited in number under the original law and re¬ 
cently still further limited hy appropriation acts. 

Second. National Guard, limited in number by existing law. 

Third. Reservists, whose number is not limited by law. 

The cost of maintaining personnel in these three categories varies greatly, 
that in the Regular Army being greater than in the National Guard, which in 
turn is greater than the cost of the reserve })ersonnel, which in peace is rela- 


22 


REDUCTION OF COMMISSIONED PERSONNEL. 


tively the lowest per capita. In organizintr the Annies of the United States 
as a whole, the above statement su^j^ests the following economic pi'inciple: 

In organizing the peace establishment, no unit should he maintaim^l in a 
more expensive category if it van he safely and advantageously maintained 
in a less expensive category, and mobilized therefrom in time to meet the re¬ 
quirements of an emergency. 

In the adoption of this conclusion, it would, of course, he understood that 
Regular Army organizations must he maintained for duty in foreign garrisons, 
upon the Mexican border, for emergency service at home or expeditionary pur¬ 
poses abroad, and for all other duties which, in the nature of things, could 
not be performed by citizen soldiers. It would, however, preclude the formation 
of units in the Regular Army that could be mobilized in sufficient time from 
the citizen army, and it would also mean that maintenance of units in the 
National Guard would not be undertaken which could be mobilized in time from 
Organized Reserves. Under our present organization there are certain units 
that in themselves have no power of expansion, and whose employment in war 
would only he possible through their development in the citizen army itself. 

The application of this principle would lay the foundation for a military 
organization at a minimum cost. The tendency would be to develop organiza¬ 
tions of the citizen army for those functions of national defense which could 
safely be left to citizen personnel. Although just how far this could be applied 
has not been determined, yet it seems to be sound from an economical stand¬ 
point and it conforms to our national political instincts. 

In pursuing this conception of our national defense problem, every effort 
would be made on the part of the regular officers to provide an enlarged system 
of national training for the citizen elements of our armies, both National Guard 
and reserves, that would arou.se and hold the interest of those elements. This 
leads up to a second conclusion which may be stated as follows: 

The primary mission of the regular personnel within the United States is to 
develop the National Guard and the Organized Reserves, and to establish a 
national training system. 

The application of these princi{>les involves the whole problem of our national 
defense program, but there are many practical difficulties to be met that must 
receive careful consideration. The main obstacle is that military training in 
th-'.s country is entirely voluntary and that the personnel can not be compelled 
to train over a period of years. There are indications, however, of a general 
awakening as to national defen.se, and that it is great enough to warrant the 
belief that, though voluntary, such a system would he successful. An increas¬ 
ing interest is manifest in the National Guard ; a large number of reserve offi¬ 
cers have voluntarily accepted api)ointnients; reports are favorable as to the 
success of the Reserve Offi.cers’ Training Corps, and much enthusiasm exists as 
to citizens’ military training cami)s. All of these point to a greater apprecia¬ 
tion throughout the country of tlie value of militar.v training to the individual 
and its necessity to national .security and preparedness. 

The full development of this .si'stem as planned can not be carried out by the 
Regular Army alone, even at its present size, nor is it advisable that aU in¬ 
struction be given by regular personnel. The a.ss’stance of reserve officers must 
be invoked, and it is advantageous to do so. Whenever we employ a reserve 
officer, even temporarily, to perform these duties, we not only de(*rease the peace 
cost, hut we increase the efficiency of reserve personnel that much, So we are 
aide to deduce another i)rincii»le, which can be stated as follows; 

In ti-aining the citizen army we .should employ as many reserve officers and 
noncommi.ssioned officers as possible as student instructors and staff personnel 
in our training camps and other training establishments. 

This brings up the (piestion of just how best to utilize the professional per¬ 
sonnel of the Regular Army in order to perform successfully its primary func¬ 
tion of training the citizen arm.v. The regular personnel may be divided into 
two distinct parts, one to be concerned with training the citizen army and 
organize<l into special units for that purixtse, while the other would be set 
ai)art for such duties required as maintaining foreign garri.sons, border patrols, 
ex|ieditionary forces, and other purposes not specially connected with citizen 
training. Or, on the other hand, the personnel of the Regular Army within the 
limits of the I nited States tnay be formed into military units having these 
functions combined. 

The first plan is without doubt the more desirable because it permits the 
selection and development of special personnel required for citizen training, 
while under the second the Regular Army organizations would be engaged partly 


REDUCTlOISr OF COMMISSIONED PERSONNEL. 


23 


only'^m strict militarv diitUvs. and the citizen training- wonld become 

emnlovpri so that when the rejtnlar units should he actnallv 

breah\lo\vn Pliui of trainin^^ citizen soldiery wonl'd 

follows! statement of another principle, which is as 

for jxeneral oyerhead pur¬ 
poses shall he foimed into two separate forces—one composed of training orirani- 
zations, (listrihnted in the seyeral corps areas, and the other an expeditilm^^^^^^ 

sev7ic7']uT'^\'-^ He^tnlar Army units at effectiye strenj,dh ready for immediate 
serMce and stationed accordinj^ to conyenience for seryice.” 

the Nhitional Guard and Orf 2 :anized Keseryes the professional 
^^i^^jspensahle, hut his emi»loyment should he such as to enconraj?e the 
1 tiatne and selt-reliance of the otlicers of these orf^anizations. The details of 
a systein based upon the aboye principles must he carefully worked out and of 
necessity will haye to be f^radiially applied. ‘ • ’ 


(!ji’‘lVrSui'i-T''" tliat you wish to make, 

Gen. Pershino. No; I don’t think so. 

The Chaikm.\n. In a letter from the Secretary of War, or perhaps it was from 
.^ou, It was suKj,^ested that the committee mijjht want to summons some other 
witnesses, and a list of some ollicers was attached. We can take that matter 
up later whether we want to continue the hearin^ts. 

Gen. Pershing. Yes, sir. 

The Chairman. Are there any questions that any of you Senators wish to 
ask the general before he .^oes. 

Senator Sheppard. Did you <jiye us the total number of officers in the Medical 
Corps? 


Gen. Pershing. Yes. The total number that \ye propose in the bill? 

Senator Sheppard. Yes. 

Gen. Pershing. One thousand one hundred and forty-six. 

Senator Sheppard. Is that the number in the hill? 

Gen. l*ERSHiNG. No. That is the present number. 

Senator Sheppard. The numher in the hill is what? 

Gen. Pershing. One thousand fifty-three. 

Senator Sheppard. It is not proposed to reduce that yery materially? 

Gen. Pershing. No. We do not think that the size of the Medical Corps ought 
to depend entirely ui><m the number of enlisted men in the liegiilar Army. This 
is put in as a substitute for the present plan by which the size of the Medical 
Corps is fixed according to a certain percentage, as you will recall—Gi per 
thousand. ' 

The Chairman. Does the committee desire to hear any further testimony this 
afternoon? Maj. Benedict is here, but I imagine the bill is well enough ex¬ 
plained, unless some additional points need clarification. Maj. Benedict has 
been yery closely associated with the preparation of the bill. 

Senator Sheppard. I suggest that if the major feels that he has something 
that vye ought to heai*. that he be allowed to giye it to us. 

The Chairman. Yery well. 


STATEMENT OF MAJ. J. L. BENEDICT, UNITED STATES ARMY. 


The Chairiman. We will be glad to heai- from you. Major. 

Maj. Benedict. Ddo not helieye there is anything to add to what has been 
said, unless it is to clear uj) some of the details and c<nifusion of numbers that 
happens oftentimes. 

idle Chairman, .lust what numbers <lo you refer to. Major? 

Maj. Benedict. There seems to be an impression that the total elimination 
that \yill take place from this bill is 922 officers. That is a fact, as far as the 
elimination within fiye numths is concerm'd, hut \yhen that first phase of the 
readjustment is complete it still leayes a surplus of 083 officers that are to be 
absorbed—taken care of by natural casualties, so that the gross reduction of 
the Army accomplished by this bill is 1,005 officers. I think that will clear 
up some of the conflicting statements. 

The Chairman. Then is it a fact that the absorption of those 083 will com¬ 
mence immediately upon the passage of the act, but will take longer than fiye 
months to accomplish, or is it intended that that 083 slnill not commence to 
be absorbed until after the fiye-month period? 


24 


REDUCTION OF COMMISSIONED PERSONNEL. 


Maj. Benedict. After the five-month period. 

The Chairman. Then for some little period after the five-month period 
the necessity for that absorption will slow down promotions somewhat? 

Maj. Benedict. Yes. sir. It does slow down the promotions. It slows down 
promotions to the grade of major and the grade of captain. Promotion to the 
grade of first lieutenant is stopped by a provision of the bill requiring three 
years’ service as a second lieutenant. It would require possibly as much as 
three years to absorb the additional majors and captains. I Hiring that time 
promotions to the grade of major and captain would be stopped. 

The Chairman. For about three years? 

Maj. Benedict. Y'es, sir. 

Senator Fletcher. Why not eliminate the whole 1,600 in this bill? 

Maj. Benedict. One objection that I have heard a great deal of is that we 
have some boy majors in the Army, and we have some captains that are 
entirely too yofing for their grade. In other words, rapid promotion took place, 
and it has advanced some comparativelj^ young officers to those grades. This 
bill proposes an absorption and will stop that promoting and allow those men 
to get 9 or 10 years’ service before they are promoted to the grade of major; 
six or seven years before they are promoted ot the grade of captain. Meantime 
we will have had the services of these additional majors and captains as they 
are called in the bill, to offset our shortage of lieutenants, because we can not 
procure these new lieutenants all at once, and it must be done slowly and 
gradually. So, avoiding this entire elimination at one time works out to our 
general advantage in every way by giving us the services of officers that are 
needed by slowing up promotion in the places where it really needs slowing 
up, and by avoiding too great immediate elimination. 

The Chairman. What is the plan, if you are able to say, IMajor, about bring¬ 
ing in second lieutenants. What is the number of second lieutenants? 

Senator Fletcher. Five thousand seven hundred and thirty-five lieutenants, 
including first and second; not to exceed 3,515 first lieutenants. 

Maj. Benedict. Two thousand two hundred and twenty second lieutenants 
would be the maximum we could have. 

The Chairman. How long do you contemplate it would take to get those? 

Maj. Benedict. Well, I do not believe we could bring in more than l.OOO officers 
in a year if we wanted to, iinless we had a windfall such as receiving the graduat¬ 
ing class from the Naval Academy, or something like that. 

The Chairman. Has the Army got its eye on that graduating class? 

Maj. Benedict. Everyone has. But this bill will bring down the strength of 
the Army to about 12,000, and we have put in here the limiting strength of 
13,000 for the fiscal year 1923, the idea being that by the end of 1923 we could 
probably get in 1,000 lieutenants from all sources. 

The Chairman. Bringing it up to 13,000? 

Maj. Benedict. Bringing it up to 13,000. And then if the appropriations for 
the succeeding years permit, we would go on and add to that until we get the 
commissioned strength built up. 

The Chairman. Built up to 14,000? 

Maj. Benedict. Built up to 14,000. Thereafter we will have to bring in, under 
more or less normal conditions between five and six hundred officers each year 
to offset the normal losses that occur in iieace times. 

The Chairman. And under the statute they must all come in in the grade of 
second lieutenant? 

Maj. Benedict. Yes, sir. 

The Chairman. Except in the Medical Corps? 

Maj. Benedict. Yes, sir; and possibly one or two appointments in the Judge 
Advocate’s Department. 

Senator Fletcher. If this class is not allowed to graduate at Annapolis, is it 
your idea that they may at once go into the Army as second lieutenants? 

Maj. Benedict. Well, as far as the department has progressed, it was to con¬ 
sider extending to them an opportunity to make application for appointment in 
the Army in case they are not commissioned in the Navy, the idea being upon 
receipt of their applications to investigate into their class standings, physical 
qualfications, etc., and then if they are qualified to tender them appointments. 

Senator Fletcher. That is, as second lieutenants? 

Maj. Benedict. Yes, sir. 

Senator Fletcher. None higher than that? 

INIaj. Benedict. No, sir. Tender them an appointment as a second lieutenant; 
under the provision of this law that would keep them there for three years. 


REDUCTION OF COMMISSIONED PERSONNEL. 


25 


The Chairman. Do you want to emphasize anything else, Major? 

Maj. Benedict. I just wanted to invite attention to one thing that you brought 
up in connection with the enlisted service. You will perhaps notice that in the 
proviso of that same section it provides for constructive service for men who 
have attained their positions other than through the normal course of promotion. 
The whole spirit of that section was not to go into the differences of the route 
by which a man came to where he is, as to whether he was an enlisted man for 
a number of years, or whether he was a cadet; whether he was appointed in 
1920, or what. In other words, to try to avoid all the immense number of diffi¬ 
cult questions that are brought up when you start in giving constructive service, 
by simply saying that we recognize each man is there. We do not care what 
the route is by which he got there. He is next to a man who arrived by normal 
course of promotion, and we will credit him with the same length of service. 
Now, of course, if you are making allowance for any enlisted service you are 
pulling down that whole structure, and you will have to take into consideration 
any number of things that have not been thought of, such as cadet service; serv¬ 
ice at the training camps undergoing instruction to become an officer; National 
Guard Service, contract medical service, and everything like that. 

The Chairman. That is the difficulty I was thinking about. 

Maj. Benedict. Any number of things will be brought up if the principle is 
once departed from. 

The Chairman. Any other questions that you gentlemen wish to ask? 

We are very much obliged to you. Major. 

(Whereupon, at 4.10 o’clock p. m., the committee adjourned to meet at the 
call of the chairman.) 


I 


/ 


* 



KEDUCTION OF COMMISSIONED PERSONNEL. 


FEIDAY, MARCH 3, 1922. 

United States Senate, 
Committee on Military Affairs, 

Washington, D. C. 

The committee met, piirsimiit to adjournment, at 10.30 o’clock a. m., in the 
committee room, Capitol, Senator James W. Wadsworth, jr, (chairman), pre¬ 
siding. 

The committee took up for further consideration Senate bill 3113, to reduce 
the number of oflicers of the Itegular Army, and for other purposes. 

STATEMENT OF MAJ. GEN. M. W. IRELAND, SURGEON GENERAL 

OF THE ARMY. 

The Chairman. Gentlemen, the committee has under consideration Senate 
bill 3113, a hill to reduce the number of officers of the Regular Army. We have 
already heard from the Secretary of War and from General Pershing as to the 
general purposes of the bill; but quite a little of it is devoted to the Medical 
Department, and in a sense special provisions are inserted for the Medical De¬ 
partment, and I would like to have your view as Surgeon General on the present 
obligations of the commissioned personnel of the Medical Department, and we 
M'onld like to have you tell us why it is that it is proposed in the bill that the 
number of medical officers shall not be reduced proportionately. 

General Ireland. Senator, if you will allow, me, I would like to state that I 
approve of the provisions of this bill in principle, as they apply to the Medical 
Department as a whole. There are a couple of things I would like to mention 
which I believe should be inserted in the bill. 

In the question of retirement, in computing service I think the dental surgeon 
and the veterinary officer should be given the credit that he is now given by 
law. The present law allows the dental officer to count all of his time as an 
acting dental surgeon and contract dental surgeon, and the veterinary officer 
is entitled to count all of his service to the Government as a veterinarian. If 
that is not continued in the law- 

The Chairman (interposing). In the proposed law? 

General Ireland. Yes. sir. In the proposed law many of the veterinary 
men and dental men might retire with a great deal less service than they really 
have at the present time under the law. At the time they were rendering this 
service there was no Dental Corps or Veterinary Corps, and when these corps 
were organized it was considered only just that they should be given credit for 
the service they had already rendered. We have a good many men of the 
Medical Corps at the present time who have had a considerable service as con¬ 
tract surgeons, and in the application of this proposed law we think it would 
not be amiss to give them credit for that service just for purposes of retirement. 

There is another provision of the law that I think might be considered, and 
that is the number of officers you are allowing as veterinary surgeons. The 
veterinary service was organized by the act of June 4, 1920, and they were 
allowed 17o officers, which number was never considered sufficient, as you will 
remember, to perform the veterinary service of the Army. We thought at that 
time that we were going to employ reserve officers to assist in accomplishing this 
serAuce. The veterinary men say they can take care of about 38,000 animals 
with 175 officers and carry on the food inspection and the other work they must 
do. To cut them down to 144 officers will just be multiplying the difficulties they 
are working under now. 

The Chairman. How many animals are you taking care of now? 

General Ireland. Fifty-seven thousand animals now. 


27 




28 


REDUCTION OF COMMISSIONED PERSONNEL. 


The CiTAiRistAN. Are they falling behind in their present work? 

Genei'al Ireland. Oh. yes; yes. There are calls from every part of the Army 
for additional veterinary men. The demands are most insistent, in spite of the 
fact that the War Department has notified the Army officially tliat the nnmber 
of veterinary officers allowed bj- law is all that is going to be provided for the 
veterinary service. When this was decided, I asked the department to do that, 
because I thought it was only fair that the Army should know that the veter¬ 
inary service was to be restricted and could not meet what the Army thought 
they ought to have or what the War Department believed should be given. 

Now, so far as the Medical Corps is concerned- 

The Chairman (interposing). Let us see just a moment, so that we will get 
our ideas correct on the record. This bill provides that the IMedical Corps shall 
be reduced to 1,053 officers, the Dental Corps to 177, and the veterinaries to 144. 

General Ireland. Yes, sir. 

The Chairman. Now, can you give us first the strength of the Medical Corps 
at present? 

(General Ireland. The strength of the Medical Corps at present is 1,140 officers, 
and it is proposed to reduce it to 1,053. 

The Chairman. About 90 reduction. 

General Ireland. Now, 1,053 is the authorized strength for an Army of 150,000 
men. That figure was based upon a letter I addressed to the General Staff last 
October, in which I went into detail as to the handicap the Medical Department 
was laboring under in meeting its mission under the June 4, 1920, act, and 
demonstrated conclusively and placed each medical officer in the position he 
should occupy, that we should have 1,425 medical officers to meet the demands 
that were being made on the Medical Department then. 

I think the War Department agreed to that letter in principle and thought 
there ought to be relief. As a result, when this bill was drawn, without con¬ 
sulting me, they made the strength of the Medical Department that of 150,000 
men, regardless of any reduction that might take place in the future. 

I want to say in explanation of that statement, that I was consulted with re¬ 
gard to this bill before it was sent to Congress, but they had agreed to the 
number of medical officers without any insistence on my part—that is the point 
I wish to make. The reason for that is that the overhead for a small army, 
from a medical standpoint, is almost as large as the overhead for a large army. 
The distribution of an army of 150,000 is practically the same as the distribution 
of 280,000 men. The number of posts is in effect the same, and the demands that 
are made on the Medical Department for our stations in the foreign possessions 
are practically the same. 

The difference between 150,000 and 100,000 men, even, would be a negligible 
quantity in the number of medical officers we are called upon to furnish. 

In addition to that, under the act of June 4, 1920, we have been called upon 
for many activities that we were not called upon for before, such as the R. O. 
T. C. units, the National Guard, the Organized Reserves, and the civilian train¬ 
ing camps. All of those activities are new and make tremendous calls upon 
the Medical Department. 

The reason why we should be given that number of medical officers is so per¬ 
fectly plain to me that I think it is a difficult problem to get over to those who 
may not be acquainted with the overhead that is called for in the distribution 
of the Army. 

If you will permit me, I would like to give you just a little review of the 
history of legislation for the ^Medical Department, which goes back quite a few 
years. 

The Chairman. Very ^vell. 

General Ireland. About 30 years ago the iMedical Department had 192 officers, 
with many contract surgeons. As posts were abandoned on the frontier they 
abolished the contract surgeons on the 30th of June, 1892, and the Medical 
Department got along with its 192 officers from that time. In 1893, in a fit of 
economy. Congress reduced the ^Medical Corps of the Army by 15 oflicers, taking 
them off at the bottom. When war was declared in 1898 the INIedical Depart¬ 
ment was prepared for the emergency by restoring these 15 officers. 

The Chairman. I see. I recollect the results. 

General Ireland. And we went through the war with that preparation. Now, 
in the 1901 bill reorganizing the Army the Medical Corps was increased to 321 
officers, from 102. Most of them were put in at the bottom, so that there was no 
prospect for adequate advancement for a doctor entering the corps. As a 
result many of our best men resigned and we could not get others to coine in. 



REDUCTION OF COMMISSIONED PERSONNEL. 


29 


This was taken up with Mr. Root before he left the ofTice of Secretary of War, 
and he gave his very cordial support to correcting this mistake. It resulted 
in a campaign that extended over four years, until April, 1908, when we were 
given substantially our present organization by the act of April 23, 1908. 

We had to show during this campaign where we were going to place the 
number of medical officers we were going to have, and the statement was made 
that there would be changes in the Army and mayl)e these demands would be re¬ 
duced. There have been many changes in the Army, and there has always been 
a greater demand for medical officers, Senator, always. There has never 
been a time when there was a less demand. The demand for medical officers 
to-day is greater than it ever was before. I know I can be substantiated by 
Colonel Benedict, who is here, and who handles’ this proposition, that the 
demand to-day for medical officers is greater than it was a year ago to-day. 

The great problem before the IMedical Department to-day is the training propo¬ 
sition, and taking care of the men who go to the summer camps—public health 
work. It demands a tremendous number of medical officers, and if we are given 
just a fair show I think we can give a good account of ourselves. 

The Chaikman. Was there anything in section 3 which had special applica¬ 
tion to the IMedical Department that you cared to comment on? You see that 
promises an excess, as I understand it, for the time being of 32 additional 
officers in the Dental Corps. 

General Ireland. Yes, sir. 

The Chairman. And 40 in the IMedical Administrative Corps? 

General Ireland. Yes, sir. I think that can be handled in a satisfactory way. 
It eliminates a certain number of officers, and the others will be absorbed. I 
might say that the dental problem is equivalent on a smaller scale with the 
problems of the Medical Corps of the Army. 

The Chairman. Then these two numbers, 32 of the Dental Corps and 40 of 
the Administrative Corps, are the ones to be absorbed? 

General Ireland. They are the ones to be absorbed by retirements and 
otherwise. 

The Chairman. From natural causes? 

General Ireland. Yes, sir. 

The CHAiRiiAN. The remainder are to be retired within the five-month period? 

General Ireland. Yes, sir. 

The Chairman. Was there anything else in the bill that you cared to 
comment on? 

General Ireland. No, sir. I think the bill is nn excellent one. 

The Chairman. Are there any questions which the Senators would like to 
ask of the general? 

Senator Sheppard. General, how many medical officers have you now? 

General Ireland. One thousand one hundred and forty-one. I gave that a 
while ago. 

The Chairman. That is in the Medical Corps. 

General Ireland. I am talking about the Medical Corps. 

Senator Sheppard. What will be the effect of the bill on them? 

General Irixand. It reduced it to 1053. We are going to absorb 88 medical 
officers in five months. 

Senator Sheppard. What is your view as to that reduction and the advisa¬ 
bility of it? 1 

General Ireland. We can use all of the medical officers we have now and 
more too, but I think we can make that reduction in a satisfactory way. 

Senator Pepper. Mr. Chairman, if I understand the general’s statement, it 
is to the effect that the numerical total of the military force of the United 
States is not to be the decisive factor in determining what the strength of the 
medical staff should be, but that it has to do with the distribution of the military 
forces and that as long as a distribution remains substantially static you 
can not reduce your medical force to correspond with the mere numerical 

reduction of your total. ^ i i., i. • 4 . 

General Irelvnd. Exactly. So far as distribution is concerned, that is true. 

and then the question of training is an additional problem of the Medical 

Department. You have it exactly. , 4 . a 4 . 

The Chairman. In other words, if you have loO men at an Army post you 

will have to have a medical officer there. 

General Ireland. If there is one company, there must be a medical officer. 

The Chairman. And if that number was reduced to 100 men, you would still 
have to have your medical officer? 


30 


REDUCTION OF COMMISSIONED PERSONNEL. 


(General Djkland. Yes, sir; or 75. 

Tlie Chairman. A]Ili()ii.irh tlie reduction is 33 per cent. 

(Jeneral Ireland. Yes, sir. 

Senator Pp:pper. I wanted tlie jxeneral to develop a little bit his tliong'ht on 
the subject of the iinportaiu'e of the medical service to the training-camp prep¬ 
aration which is contemi)lated. 

Cenerai Ireland. That is the last statement I ma<le. That is one of the 
great problems of the iMedical Department. It is a problem of preventative 
medicine. The examination and the protection of these men while they are 
in camj) and the advice which can be given to them while they are there as to 
what should be done when they go back home, is something that will be of 
tremendous advantage, not only to the young man in preparing him for his 
usefulness as a citizen, but for the country at large. It is one of the great 
problems, I think, before the iMedical Department to-day. AYe have passing 
through my ollice now a really great public-health problem, whi(*h, if we had 
the officers and clerical force to handle it properly, could be made of immense 
value to the officer personnel of the Army. The reports of annual jhiysical 
examination of the thirteen or fourteen thousand officers of the Army are being 
examined. Sevei'al hundred are l)eing reviewed each day. Many of them 
show variations from the normal. If each officer couhl be taken personally 
and given ]n-ofessional advice as to methods of living and corrective measures 
which should be taken, the net results would be of immense value to the Army 
and to the commissioned personnel. But such work absorbs medical and 
clerical personnel which are not available. Now, the same thing can be done 
with these young men who are examined physically who come into camp each 
summer. They can be given advice as to their teeth, their tonsils, their feet, 
the repair of hernias, and about many other abnormal conditions which wouhl 
lie of tremendous value to them in afterlife; just as the mobilization of the 
National Army during the war was of great value from a physical standpoint 
to the men who came into our camps. 

Senator Bepper. And if we are going to do that at all. we might as well do . 
it right, with efficient medical service, and really solve the proi)leni of juiblic 
health. 

Ueneral Ireland. Senator, if it is not done in the proper manner, it is going 
to cease very soon. If you take these young men in camp and let them have 
an epidemi(; of typhoid fever, or some other epidemic that is purely preventable, 

1 think the camps will cease in a very short time. 

Senator I’epper. Yes. 

Senator New. I think the experience of the Army in 1898, not through the in- 
eliiciency of the Aledical Uorj^s at all, but through the inadequacy of the Medical 
Corps, ought to stand as a warning and as an example to the United States 
for all time to come. It justifies the very point you make and bears it out 
absolutely. The troul)le then was that you did not have an adequate medical 
staff, and men died in that war by the hundreds and even by the thousands, 
whose deaths could have l)een prevented if you had had the medical staff in 
the early stages of their enlistment and mobilization to have established proper 
l)reventive measures. 

General Ireland. Senator, I think the most illuminating problem in pre¬ 
ventive medicine is the study of conditions in 1898—the advances which have 
been made since that time, and then apply these advances to the preventable 
diseases during the mobilization for the AVorld AAkar. In that little Army, for 
the mobilization in 1898 was a small one, we had thousands of cases of typhoid 
fever-—more than 20.000. In the AVoiOd AAbir mobilization of more than 4,000,000 
men. many of them living in trenches in Fi-ance, we had less than 1,4(M) cases 
of typhoi(i fever. In the small Army of 1898 we had 2.200 deaths from typhoid 
fever. In the tremendous Army of the AYorld AAbir we had 215 deaths. 

The OhatRjMAN. From ty])hoid? 

(kmeral Ireland. Fi-om typhoid. AAdien it comes to dysentary we had 42 
deaths in the mobilization for the World AA"ar ; we had 13 deaths from malaria ; 
and, I think, there were 3 oi- 4 deaths from smallpox. It is all the preparation. 
AVe can ]u*otect trooijs that are mobilized from purely preventable diseases if 
given trained pei'sonnel. 

Senator New. There were 2.200 deaths in 1898 from typhoid? 

General Ireland. From tyi)hoid alone. 

'The Chairman. Ten per cent died from typhoid. 

Senator New. That is just what I was going to bring out. It was nearly 
10 per cent of the entire force, was it not, which died of that one disease? 


EEDUCTIOX OF COMMISSIONED PERSONNEL. 


31 


Cenonil Ikei^and. It is n <lrea(lfnl (‘(uninentary. 

Senator New. I saw them die by the lumdreds where I was. More men 
died in tliat eamj) from typhoid fever than died as the result of wounds—killed 
in action oi- resnltinj; from wounds—in tlie one real battle of tlu‘ war. I mean 
at that one camp. 

Senator Sheppahd. As I understand it. (Jeneral. yon can not well ji'o below 
the nnmher tixed in this hill without crippling*' the nsefnlness of the service? 

Ceneral 1hei>axi). Yes, sir; I think that is a very modest statement, Senator. 

Senator Sheppaud. No matter if the Army should he materially reduced in 
11 umbers? 

(leiieral Ireland. 1 think with an Army of To,(MM) men, that is a perfectly 
modest statement. 

Senator Sheppard. That is what I wanted to hrin^’ out. 

(General Ireland. Yes, sir. 

The (TiAIRMAN. Are there any other ipiestions? Do you care to emphasize 
anythiiifi: else. (General? We will he very jjlad to have your views on anythin, e: 
that .vou think is important. 

General Ireland. No, sir. 

Senator Sheppard. I sujtftest that if any thin,i; else occurs to the General, 
that he let us know of it by written communication. 

The Chairman. Yes, sir. 


STATEMENT OF MAJ. J. L. BENEDICT, GENERAL STAFF, 

The (’HAiRM.vN. I think I might say to the committee that Ma.ior Benedict 
has made an especial study of this problem of commissioned iter.sonnel, its dis¬ 
tribution, and especially of this jirohlem of its reduction, and while we have 
had very interesting and com[)lete and authoritative statements from the Sec- 
retar.v of War ami General Pershing, there are a good many phases of it, 
detailed in nature, hut nevertheless impoi’tant, which I think the committee 
would like to hear about from an oflicer who has made an esiiecial study of 
it; and, if the committee is agreeable, I am going to ask Colonel Benedict to 
proceed in his own way and .give us a more intimate insight into this problem 
of reducing, in a sati.sfactory way, the commi.ssioned i>ei-sonnel and its redis¬ 
tribution in grades. 

Ma.ior Benedict. Mr. (Miairmau. I think probably that would he best av- 
comitiished by following through the text of the hill. 

As you know now there are authoi-ized undei- the law 1(1,(577 oflicers. The 
first section of the hill proposes to establish a. new maximum numhei- of 
I4.0(M), and what the War Department considers a suitable <l!Strihution of that 
14,0(M) into various grades and branches of the service. In arriving at the 
distribution in the first .sectimi, it was decided, without regard to further re¬ 
duction of the enPsted strength, as General Ireland has stated, that the :\Iedical 
Department should remain alxmt as now authorized. That number and the 
number of general officers being deducted from the 14,000 left about 12,400 
officers for what is known as the single list; that is, it left that number of 
oflicers sub.}ect to promotion by seinority and for distribution in varhms grades. 
'The distribution in grades is stated in section 1 of the a(*t. In accomi)lishin,g 
that distribution we did not change in any way the peri'entages e.stahlished 
by the ])res(mt national-defense act; for instance; the jiresent act authorizes 
4 per cent of the otficei-s promote<l l)y seniority to be cohmels. The number, 
494, proposed in this act. is 4 per cent of the total. 

Now’, having decided on a distribution of the officers by l>rancbes of the serv¬ 
ice and by grade, tbe i)roblem, of course, was how to pass from the present 
distribution to the new one. In sectiim 2 the rtrst step in the problem is solved; 
that is, to stop promotions, so far as i»romotions by seniority are concerned. 
\o reduction is i)i’oi)osed in tbe grade of general officer, nor ai’C promotions 
made by seniority to that grade. (Consequently, that grade is excepted from 

the section. , , i.. 

The ])romotion to the grade of general officer is entirel.v a matter of selection, 

Yoir^wUrtimraiso a proviso in that section which says that there shall not 
be anv cessation of promotion in the Medical Corps. There, again, promotion 
is not by seniority, but is granted upon the expiration of a fixed number of 

years of service. 

94801—22-3 




32 


REDUCTION OF COMMISSIONED PERSONNEL. 


Promotion lla^■in,^• stopjfod. tlion tlio problom is to rodiuv Dio munhor of 
officers that we liave down to the new niimher. You will find in section 2 a 
jirovision that on the date of the approval of the aid any vacancy not a(*tually 
tilled hy the acceptance of a tendei’ed appointment shall not he filled. At prac¬ 
tically all times we have vacancies in the various grades. For instance, to-day, 
I helievt', thei'e are eight vacancies in the grade of colonel, (’ertain adminis¬ 
trative difficulties have prevented the promotion of the senior officer entitled 
to one of those vac-ancies, and he is holding up the other seven helow him. 
So this hill will actually accomidish a part of the necessary reduction hy 
merely failing to fill such vacancies as may exist on the date the hill is approved. 

Section 3 prescribes the nuinhei's to which reduction is to he made at once. 
The numbers ai-e the same as in section 1, except in the grades of ma.for and 
captain, among the officers promoted hy seniority. There the pi’oposition is 
to hold 194 additional majors and 39o additional captains. The reason for 
that—in fact, there is more than one reason for it. In the first place, the 
reduction to he made, even retaining those additional officers, will bring us 
down to about 12.000 officers. We have 12,900 in the Army now, and we are 
not sup])lying the demands. Continual calls are coming in for more officers 
for the National (iuard and for the Organized Resei’ves, principally—those be¬ 
ing the activities that are short. 

So that while we are building uj) in the grade of second lieutenants, it is 
proposed here fo hang on to 194 majors and 39') captains, the numhers, of 
course, being gradually reduced as casualties occur. 

That has an additional advantage of stopping promotion to the grade of 
major and to the grade of captain while these men are being absorbed, and 
will hold up promotion possibly three years. 

It is generally recognized that officers are now being i)romoted to the grades 
of inajoi' and captain on too short service. 

The same section provides that the numl)er of first lieutenants may he re¬ 
duced to such number as the President may deem advisable. Our present num¬ 
ber of first lieutenants is below the number that we propose to have in the re¬ 
adjusted personnel. Consequently, no reduction is necessary. That is merely 
put in there to give the President aufhoi-ity, while we are making this gen¬ 
eral readjustment, to discharge or retire any first lieutenants that the board 
might discover who would he of little further use on the active list. 

Section 4 provides for a hoard of live general officers, who are to select the 
supernumerary ollicers in such numbers as may he nect^ssary, in addition to 
officers removed from the active list hy other means, to reduce not to exceed 
the nunroer to which reduction is to he made within five months of the date of 
the api)roval of the act. 

I would like to call special attention there to that phraseology, that they 
select the number necessary in addition to those which will he remove4l hy 
other means. There .seems to he an impression, for instance, that we were 
going to force 105 colonels out of the Army; that this hoard would select about 
that number. As a matter of fact, an analysis of the situation which I made 
just the other day indicates that we have now eight vacancies. If the hill 
should r)ass before those vacancies are filled, they would not he filled, and we 
would gain eight in that way. We have seven colonels who are on leave, whose 
retirement has been approved, some of them on their own application and some 
for physical disability. We have three general officers whose retirement has 
been api)roved and colonels will he promoted, and we will gain three in tha.t 
way. We have now 20 colonels before retiring hoards, and we have 4 or 5 
provisionally in class B. That giv<>'S a total of about 44 colonels that we are 
going to get rid of hy natural causes 

The Uhairisian. That is assuming that all 20 which you have mentioned who 
are before retiring hoards will he retired. 

Major Benedict. I might say that the few now before retiring hoards who are 
not retired will he offset by others to go before the retiring hoards. There are 
several who will go before retiring l)oards besides tho.se now there. So that I 
think it is safe in saying that the normal loss due to physical retirement will 
he 20. 

The Uhaikman. Then you figure, instead of 105 compulsory selective retire¬ 
ments hy the hoard of 5 general officers, there will he more apt to he about 60? 

Major Benedict. Yes, sir. That brings it down to about 60. We have 275 
colonels in the Army that have over 30 years’ service and are entitled to retin^ 
ui)on their own apidication. If a reduction is made in the Army. T believe it 
is perfectly ai)pareiit that some of those are going to retire. There are a 


EEDUCTIOX OF (’OMMTSSIOXEl) PERSONNEL. 


33 


,u<)(m1 nuniy of thoin that know what tin ii’ stan(liii,u' is?. Them are a fiood many 
of them that are disinelined to he mnt on foreijiii service, and for one reason 
or anotliei' we are hound to jivt some applications fr(»m that 275. That will still 
further reduce the (50 to he selected hy the hoard. If we can reduce it 24 hy 
that means, it will jjet us down to about the numht*r of colonels we now have in 
the Ai-niy whose efliciency ratings are helow averap:e. 

So that as far as that .urade is concerned, it does not appear that it is jioin.a; 
to work any jiieat individual hardsluj) to cari'y the provisions of the hill into 
effect. 

Tli(u*e is a similar analysis with re.si)('ct to the other .urades, and in no case 
does it appear that the forced elimination will he much jireater than (50 i)er 
<-ent of the total reduction to he nunle in any jiiade. 

Another thiiif; I wanted to call your attc'iition to in that connection is .section 
5 of the act, which provides for .still more voluntary applications for retire¬ 
ment. It simply i)rovides that the I'resident may retire any oflicer or discharp;e 
any otlicer who applies for it within the re<luction that is to he made hy this 
hill, with a jrraded r(‘tirement pay of H per cent for each year of commis¬ 
sioned service, or with one or two years’ pay if he has less an 10,years’ com¬ 
missioned servicH'. 

rndouhtedly there will he applications from that source. That means a 
still fui’ther <leci'ease in the foi’ced ivduction of tin* Aiaiiy. By forced re¬ 
duction. 1 meiui select 11 ji: otlicers and retirinj? or discharijinii- them a^;ainst 
their wishes. 

There is a provision added to that section that hereafter the President may 
place upon the retired list any otlicer who under existinj; law may he retired 
on his own application. That is a continuinji: jirovision of law. However, it 
has one aiiplication to this i-eduction that is contemplated, in that it would 
place the President in the position of makinjj: any reduction he may see tit 
to make amon^ the j^eneral otlicers. Pracfcally all of them have over ,80 
years of .service, and it would put him in a position of makinfi' a reduction 
there if he saw tit to do it. 

In .section 4, pajte 4, lines 1 and 2. there is a statement which I believe ought 
to he made clear. It is “To reduce not to (‘xceed the numbers to which 
reduction is reipiired to he made in section 8 of.the act.” In other words, 
we must come down to those numhers. We may go further. 

In connection with seidion 5 and in accordance with the wi.shes of the 
Secretary of War. as exi»ressed before the committee, it would he very proper, 
1 think, to somewhat amend that section hy a jirovlso that hereafter no 
retiriMl oflicer should in time of peace he emiiloyed on active duty for which 
an oflicer on the active list is available or (pialified. 

Section (5 jirovides for the remuneration or comiiensation. rather, of the 
ullicei’s retired or ilischarged. IVhere an oflicer has attained his place normally, 
it is a simple iirohlem. He has a certain numher of years of commissioned 
.service and he is credited with that service and receives 8 jier cent of his 
jiay for each year of his service. 

The Chairman. If he has had more than 10 years? 

iMa.jor Benedk'T. Yes; provided he has had more than 10 years of commis- 
sioiual service. If he has had less than 10. the proi)osition is not to place 
him on the retired list, hut to compensate him in a lump sum and discharge 
him. Having over seven and one-half years of sei-vice, the proiiosition is to 
give him two years' i)ay, hut with less than that to give him one year’s pay. 

The difficult thing to do is to give the credit for constructive sei-vice to men 
who have not attained their places in the normal course of ])romotion. Under the 
act of .lune 4, 1920, we brought into the .service about 5,000 officers. A number 
of those are now on the promotion list. The idea in giving them credit was 
to pay no attention to how they got thei’e. They are there, and to give them 
the same credit as a man on that list who attained his place in due course 
of i)roniot’<)n. 

I might say that the omission of credit for contract service in the Medical 
I>ei)artment was juirely an oversight. That was md intentionally omitted by 
the Wai' I>ei)artment in the i)reitaration of this bill. 

Tbe Chairman. Do you suggest that it should he taken care of by an 
amendment? 

Ma.j(H’ Benedk'T. Yes, s r; 1 have one drafted, and I would like to pre.sent 
it. The question was i-aised before the committee at the last hearing as to 
tlie effei't of counting enlisted service, in the case of men being retired or 
discharged. Of coui-se, it is very difficult to say how many men of that class 


34 


REDUCTION OF COMMISSIONED PERSONNEL. 


would he selected. A eoiuputation has been made on that aial under certain 
avera^ie c(Uiditious assumed, it was found that the additional cost of countinjr 
enlisted service would be about $2,950,000. That would be spread over a 
period of 22 years, makin.u- their additional cost about $147,500 per year. It 
is not only an expensive proposTion, but it hardly seems .just that enlisted 
service should l)e jtiven the same credit as commissioned service toward 
retirement. 

A number of suggestions have been made that it be counted as one-fourth 
or not more than one-third. A man who had eiji'ht years’ enlisted service, that 
he be jtiven credit for two yeai's* service. That would increase his retire¬ 
ment compensation by G pei- cent. If that service is counted, however, it prob¬ 
ably will be nec'essary to include cadet service and service of held clerks, those 
two services lieinjt certainly of as much value to the Government as the en¬ 
listed service. 

Section 7 provides that there shall be no appointments in the IMedcial De¬ 
partment that will cause the number of officers of any branch thereof to exceed 
the number prescribed for such branch in section 1 of the act or that will cause 
the total number of officers of the Medical Department to exceed 1.445, ex¬ 
clusive of general officers now commissioned therein. 

In section 1 there is a ])rovision that we make an immediate reduction in 
the iMedical Department that does not bring us down to the number we are 
eventually to have. There are some additional officers of the Dental Corps and 
of the Medical Administration Corps that are going to be held on for a 
I)rocess of absorption. The effect of this section will be to hold down the 
(Ther branches of the Medical Department until that absorption has taken 
place by holding a vacancy in one branch for each surplus officer in another. 

Now, as has been stated, this act would bring us down to, in round numbers, 
12,000 officers in the Army, and we van not supply the demands now with 12,900. 
We have not approached our peak load, which comes during the summer train¬ 
ing .season. So that section 8 Avas put in the bill, to the effect that whenever 
the total number of officers of the Ilegular Army shall be less than the maxi¬ 
mum number authorized by this act the President may in his discretion order 
reserve officers to active duty with their consent within the limit of funds 
available appropriated for pay of officers of the Army, The idea behind that 
is to c-all young reserve officers into active duty during the summer months 
to help carry the peak load of training. We can call them now for only 15-day 
periods and within the limit of funds that are specifically appropriated for 
that purpose. Tliis section proposes to also make available any fumls that may 
be saved on the pay of officers of the Regular Army, which under existing law 
could not be used for the lairpose of pa.ving reserve officers. Section 9 of the 
act- 

The Ch.mrmax (interposing). .lust a moment, Ma.ior. You say that this bill 
accomplishes a reduction to 12,.OGOV 

Major Benedict. Yes. sir. 

The Chairman. It is contemifiated under the bill that they shall be built 
up again to ll.fKK) by the commission of a greater number of second lieutenants. 

Major Benedict, Yes, sir. This would redu(*e to 12,000 officers, all of whom 
would be in grades above second lieutenant, about 8,000 of them would be first 
lieutenants, and it is contemplated starting in at once building up from the 
bottom, appointing second lieutenants, with a view to getting up by the end 
of the fiscal year 1928 to about 18.000 officers and going beyond that up to 
the maximum <»f 14,000 in tlie following fi.'<cal year, if the appropriation 
permits. 

Section 9 simply accomidishes a distribution (d’ otticers to branches of the 
.service. It does not change tlie proportionate <listril)ution now authorized by 
rbe national defense act. Tlie Infantry, for instance, would have the same iiro- 
portion of officei’s on the jiromotion list that are now authorized by the national 
defense act, our reduction being 82.4 iier cent for each branch. I mean the 
reduction is 17.G per cent, Avhich brings us down to 82.4 of wbat is now author¬ 
ized. 

The present national defense act authorizes the I*resident to increase or 
diminish any branch by not to exceed 15 per cent. This act proposes to raise 
that 15 per cent to 85 per cent. 

The Chairman. That is in the case of officers? 

Major Benedict. In the case of the officers only. That is ]>ut in there to 
give the War Department the latitude that we feel is necessary in readjusting 



REDUCTION OF COMMISSIONED PERSONNEL. 


35 


and putting into effect such a reorganization of the Army as will be iK'cessary 
with reduced numbers. 

The Chairman. How many second lieutenants have you now? 

^lajor Benedict. We have no second lieutenants now on the promotion list. 
The only second lieutenants in tlie Army n<>w are those in the Medical Adminis¬ 
trative Corps and the Veterinary Corps, who are not entitled to their promotion 
until they complete five years of service. 

f^enator New. Under the present law? 

Major Benedict. I think there were four or five second lieutenants of the 
Veterinary Corps recently appointed. 

Senator Korinson. How does it hapiien that there are no second lieutenants? 

Major Benedict, There have been a number appointed since tins act was 
approved. 

The Chairman. June 4, 1920, you are talking about? 

]Major Benedict. Yes, sir; the day they are appointed, however, there is a 
vacancy for them in the next grade, and under the law as interpreted by the. 
Se<*retary of War, a man is entitled to promotion by seniority when a vacancy 
occurs or exists in the grade above, so that as fast as second lieutenants have 
been api>ointed they have been promoted up to the grade of first lieutenant. 

The Chairman. Uie trouble has been that the whole distribution in grades 
has been basiMl upon an aggregate number of officers of 16,600 and something, 
’whereas they only have actually 13,000 officers. That is all Congress wouhl 
appropriate for. Promotion runs on just the same, mandatorily, and the grade 
of second lieutenant has been sucked dry. Colonels are kept filled, and lieu¬ 
tenant colonels filled. 

Major Beni:dict. I might say that if there is no change in the law, that con- 
<lition will continue. We have now about 1,000 vacancies in the grade of first 
lieutenant, and, as the law is being interpreted, the next 1,000 men that we 
bring in as second lieutenants would step into those vacancies unless there is 
some change. This law proposes to prevent that by requiring a second lieu¬ 
tenant to serve at least three years in that grade before he may be promoted. 

Senator Uorinsox. Do they serve now any length of time, or are they imme¬ 
diately promoted after appointed? 

Major Benedict. They are promoted at once. 

Senator Robinson. It is equivalent to appointing him to the grade of first 
lieutenant? 

Major Benedict, l^es, sir. 

The Chairman. Is there any detailed information concerning the present 
assignment of officers which the committee would like to have from Major 
Benedict, or is it content to rest upon the rather general view of it given 
by General Pershing the other day in his testimony? 

Senator New. I am personally satisfied with that. 

The Chairman. I think it would be a good plan, if the committee does not 
object, that we have included in this hearing this set of tables which shows 
down to the last officer the character and duty to which the officers of the 
Army are assigned, and also the enlisted men in the different branches and 
details. 

Major Benedict. I might say in that connection that at the last hearing 
General Pershing was requested to have prepared and to furnish the details 
showing the present distribution of officers by functions. That will be sent 
back with his correction of testimony. 

The Chairman. Then perhaps we had better postpone putting this in. Are 
there any questions that the members of the committee would like to ask 
Major Benedict? Then we are very much obliged to you. Major. 

(Whereupon, at 12 o’clock m., the committee adjourned.) 


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